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Board postpones codified code of ordinances; approves multiple rezonings, IT purchase, grants and other measures
Summary
The board postponed adoption of a new codified code of ordinances after members flagged errors in Chapter 16, and separately approved multiple parcel rezonings, a lake monitoring grant, Office 365 licensing, termination of an ambulance billing contract, K9 funding from donations, and other routine resolutions.
Richland County supervisors on Oct. 8 postponed a plan to adopt a newly codified, searchable code of ordinances after members raised concerns that Chapter 16 in the codified manuscript contained outdated or incorrect entries related to personnel and sheriff positions.
The codification project has been underway since 2022; staff and the vendor produced a manuscript and circulated it for departmental review. Several supervisors and department heads said the draft still contained errors and omissions (notably sheriff-related entries previously revised in ordinance 89-7), and the board moved to postpone final adoption to allow staff and the vendor to correct Chapter 16 and other flagged items.
In separate votes the board approved a cluster of zoning ordinance amendments (Ordinance Nos. 24-17 through 24-23) to rezone small parcels from forestry to residential to align zoning with current sales or planned house construction. The board also approved:
- Resolution No. 24-72 approving the Town of Ithaca's rezoning of a 7.77-acre parcel to commercial to allow conversion of a historic property to an Airbnb and potential wedding venue.
- Resolution No. 24-74 authorizing the Land Conservation Department to apply for and accept a Wisconsin DNR lake monitoring and protection grant (up to $856) for aquatic invasive species projects; Kathy Cooper, the county conservationist, is authorized to sign grant documents.
- Resolution No. 2477 approving purchase and implementation of Microsoft Office 365 licensing (annual licensing ~ $69,435.66; implementation ~$2,625) using ARPA funds and other budget lines; staff said Office 365 will give county employees county email addresses and improved security.
- A resolution to terminate (nonrenewal) of the current ambulance billing contract with EMMC due to performance shortfalls and to switch to a new vendor beginning Jan. 1; staff said the new vendor (not named in the meeting) will seek to rebill recoverable past claims where allowed.
- Acceptance of donated funds to purchase and train a new K9 (K9 Raven) and cover required related costs from the county's K9 fund.
Other routine matters approved included a snowmobile bridge replacement reimbursement resolution, amendments to Health & Human Services provider contracts, an aging plan for 2025—2027, and a resolution setting certain rezoning fees.
Why it matters: Postponing codification prevents publishing a public, searchable code that contains inaccuracies; the vendor and staff will correct Chapter 16 before the code is published. The other approvals move forward a mix of infrastructure, public-safety and IT investments and small grants that affect county operations and services.
Next steps: Staff will collect corrections from department heads and resubmit the codified manuscript to the vendor for revision; the board expects to revisit the codification (and any remaining ordinance corrections) at a future meeting.
