County administrator updates board on Tyler rollout, wage study and campus reconfiguration grant

The County Administrator told the board the county is in the middle of a major Tyler financial-system update and several multi-hour training sessions are underway to move the general ledger and finance practices into the new platform. The administrator said the Tyler rollout will require permissions work and a series of configuration meetings involving multiple departments.

On personnel costs, the administrator and Supervisor Brewer said the county set aside roughly $890,000 to support a wage-study implementation; options and scenarios will be brought to the board with a view to phasing raises for lower-paid employees first and potentially starting changes on the first payroll in January.

The administrator said labor negotiations with the sheriff’s union are ongoing and that progress on a final settlement depends on the wage-study results. The board was also briefed on a campus reconfiguration/repurpose grant (roughly a $2 million program) that appears to require more detailed plans and budgets than the county initially expected; the administrator plans to meet with a state representative to refine the application.

Members of the campus reconfiguration committee reported they are looking at winterization options (shutting some buildings to ambient, retaining minimal heat or winterizing systems) and noted current utility costs of roughly $10,000 per month. Committee members cautioned that letting buildings go to ambient in a Wisconsin winter could risk structural damage and that deferred maintenance over decades has driven current repair costs higher.

The board scheduled further campus committee work and a meeting to continue review of bids and engineering proposals, and staff were asked to provide additional documentation and cost estimates at follow-up meetings.