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New Winnebago supervisors sworn in; IT staff orients board and vice chair elected
Summary
At the Winnebago County Board organizational meeting, new supervisors were sworn in, IT staff demonstrated the board portal and voting process, and the board elected a vice chair after multiple ballots; County Executive Gordon Pence delivered a welcome and outlined near-term priorities.
Newly appointed and elected supervisors in Winnebago County took the oath of office, received a technology orientation from county IT staff and completed officer elections at the organizational meeting.
The clerk administered the oath to incoming supervisors, who repeated a pledge to support the U.S. and Wisconsin constitutions and to "fairly and impartially discharge the duties of said office." After the oath, Jennifer Ritten, the county’s director of information technology, led a step-by-step demonstration of the county’s public and board portals, explained multi-factor authentication with a YubiKey, how to "join meeting" and select "present in voting," and offered troubleshooting advice for login or voting pop-up issues.
Nominations for county board chair and vice chair were opened. Candidates gave short statements about their experience and priorities for running orderly meetings. The clerk explained the ballot-elimination process under the board rules (rule 3.3), and the vice chair election proceeded to multiple ballots; the chair announced a final tally of 18–16 in favor of the newly elected vice chair, which was recorded on the floor.
County Executive Gordon Pence welcomed the board and identified forthcoming priorities the administration expects the board to address during the two-year term: funding for county facilities over the next five to 15 years, redevelopment of the Fox Campus, housing and strategies to help people who are unhoused, and workforce shortages in human services.
The meeting included public comment in which Reverend Ellen Rasmussen offered a prayerful blessing for the board. The session concluded with housekeeping items about committee preferences and the committee-on-committees schedule before adjournment.
What comes next: IT staff will assist supervisors still having login or YubiKey issues; clerk’s office will record committee assignments and publish the new rulebook and officer rosters.
