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Richland County Committee on Committees approves full slate of committee and board appointments
Summary
On May 4 the Committee on Committees approved a series of nominations to standing committees and external boards, including members for Executive & Finance, Community & Health Services (which will oversee an estimated $20,000,000 Pine Valley budget), Public Works and Public Safety, and multiple library, planning and regional boards.
Chair opened the Committee on Committees meeting on May 4 and confirmed a quorum. The Clerk stated the meeting “was properly noted, posted on the website, at the clerk’s office and on the bulletin board,” and the committee approved the meeting agenda by voice vote.
Corporation counsel reminded members that nominations must follow the formal process and that the committee should not simply re-adopt a prior roster without allowing the proper nomination and amendment steps. “You can’t chime in and say, ‘I want to be on the Natural Resources Committee’ if you’re not part of the committee,” counsel said, advising that any recommended lists be handled through nomination and amendment to avoid open-meeting violations.
The committee then moved through nominations and voice votes for standing committees and external boards. Key outcomes included:
- Executive & Finance: The committee nominated and approved Randy Schoonover, Shirley Welty and Rod Perry as at-large members, with Tiffany Thompson and Steve Carroll named alternates. The motion was moved and seconded and approved by voice vote.
- Community & Health Services (including oversight of Pine Valley): Members approved a slate of supervisors and citizen members; the chair noted that this committee will oversee a roughly $20,000,000 budget tied to Pine Valley operations.
- Natural Resources, Public Works and Public Safety: Each standing committee’s proposed slate of supervisors was nominated and approved by the committee in turn. Public Works was described as overseeing county parks, the highway department and courthouse facilities; Public Safety covers law enforcement, courts, emergency government and ambulance services.
- Boards and external bodies: The committee approved county representatives to numerous entities, including the Aging & Disability Resource Center (Richard McKee), Housing Authority Board (Kevin Nolan and Richard McKee), Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (Steve Caro and Bob Frank), Southwest Wisconsin Library System Board (David Turk), Tri-County Airport Commission (Steve Williamson and Mark Cooley), and Southwest Wisconsin Community Action (Bob Frank), among others. The committee also approved local library board seats and a citizen appointment (Zoe Boddicker) to the Viola Library Board.
Other appointments covered committees and advisory groups such as the Land Information Council, Local Emergency Planning Committee (Tiffany Thompson and Carrie Severson), Chapter 980 committee, Campus Reconfiguration committee and several park, fair and community boards. In most cases a motion was made, seconded and approved by voice vote; the chair called each vote and declared the motion carried when no opposing votes were voiced.
The committee completed its assignments, planned a brief recess before reconvening for the county board meeting, and adjourned after a motion to adjourn passed.
Quotes in this account are taken from the meeting transcript and attributed to the Clerk and corporation counsel where the transcript provides those functional identifications. The meeting transcript contains multiple verbal roll-call confirmations of “aye” votes; no recorded roll-call tallies listing individual yes/no votes appeared in the transcript.
