JPS hears corporation-counsel update on code recodification; committee approves fee-table amendment and a jail equipment transfer

The Judicial & Public Safety committee received an update from corporation counsel on staffing changes and a multi-year project to recodify the county code, and it approved technical updates that will move fees into a separate table for easier updating.

Corporation counsel said paralegal Tori Kinderman has moved to the county clerk's office and that Amy Bussey and Stephanie Sauter have joined the counsel's office to help with recodification and document organization. The office is working chapter by chapter on a code that has not been significantly updated since the 1970s and expects to complete incremental sections over time.

Committee members discussed the plan to place fee amounts in a standalone table so fees can be adjusted without re-amending the main code. Corporation counsel noted Wisconsin statutes limit certain fee increases (for example, some fees tied to consumer-price-index adjustments) and that the change to put fees in a separate table is intended to make future administrative updates simpler.

On business items the committee approved a motion to amend chapter 5 language so the county's fee schedule reflects fees previously adopted by the board and to reference a separate fee table in the recodified code. The committee also approved a line-item budget transfer to purchase a mixer and a warming cabinet for jail operations; members said the transfer is an internal reallocation within the same account and authorized the fiscal adjustment.

The chair said the committee will continue to monitor recodification progress and that proposed rule changes will be prepared for consideration by the next board's organizational meeting. Both actions at this meeting were approved by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the meeting transcript.