PR&D committee settles on procedure for suggesting initial Board of Commissioners for proposed lake district
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Planning, Resources and Development Committee has agreed to use ballots to rank applicants for the initial Board of Commissioners for the proposed Tainter Lake Rehabilitation District.
The deadline for applications for the initial Board of Commissioners was December 5, and the PR&D committee received 10 applications, said Chase Cummings, county conservationist, at the PR&D committee’s December 13 meeting.
All of the applicants are residents within the proposed lake district, and the minimum requirement was that the applicants be landowners in the proposed district, he said.
The PR&D committee will recommend to the Dunn County Board four individuals to serve on the initial Board of Commissioners, three from the list of 10, who will serve until the first annual meeting of the lake district, and one who would represent the PR&D committee or the Dunn County Board as a commissioner until the end of the first term, Cummings said.
Cummings suggested a two-year term for the representative of the PR&D committee or the county board to coincide with two-year election cycle for the county board.
The county board or PR&D committee representative should report back periodically to the county board or the PR&D committee, he said.
Duties
Until the first annual meeting, the initial Board of Commissioners will not have a budget, so what power do they really have? asked Gary Bjork, county board supervisor from Colfax and a member of the PR&D committee.
Under state statute, the initial Board of Commissioners has the full power of the board, Cummings said, noting there is a 30-day appeal process after the Dunn County Board appoints the initial Board of Commissioners.
Approving taxation would require an annual meeting, said Mike Kneer, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the PR&D committee.
The initial Board of Commissioners can organize and select officers and set the first annual meeting date, but approval of lake projects and assessing property taxes to pay for those projects would occur at the annual meeting, Cummings said.
Kneer expressed concern about the timing of the annual meeting and that the first one could be set when some landowners are away for the winter.
By state statute, the annual meeting must be held between May 22 and September 8, unless the date for the annual meeting is changed at an annual meeting, Cummings said,
According to Wisconsin statute 33.27, the initial Board of Commissioners can do an assessment of all property in the lake district for operating funds to carry the lake district through until the first annual meeting, so they do have some authority for assessing property taxes, he said.
Ballots
PR&D committee members should review the applications and then at the next meeting, committee members should consider the order of the applicants to forward to the Dunn County Board for consideration, said Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and chair of the PR&D committee.
PR&D committee members should be prepared to vote by ballot to start, he said.
The committee can continue with second and subsequent votes until the top three have been identified, Quinn said.
Kneer said it would be logical to have one member of the initial Board of Commissioners to be a member of the organizing committee for the proposed lake district but not all three, since the vote was close to 50-50 for the proposed lake district and since the feedback he had received is that those who signed the petitions to form the proposed lake district would not have voted in favor if they had known more about the proposed lake district.
There is no legal structure for suggesting applicants, Quinn noted.
The process will not be perfect but it will be fair and transparent, he said.
The first representative for Dunn County would serve until the April of 2024 county board election, Cummings said.
By statute, the county representative must be from the land conservation committee, or in this case, the PR&D committee, or from the county board, and the PR&D committee will recommend to the county board, and the county board will approve the appointment, he said.
In other words, the PR&D committee will follow the normal process for making appointments, Quinn said.
Timeline
The draft order will be included in the PR&D committee’s January 10 meeting packet with blanks for the suggestions for the initial board of commissioners, Cummings said.
The draft order, with the initial Board of Commissioners suggestions, will go to the Executive Committee on January 11, and the Dunn County Board will consider whether to approve the proposed lake district and the initial Board of Commissioners at the January 18 county board meeting, he said.
Quinn asked if anyone serving on the PR&D committee was interested in serving on the initial Board of Commissioners, but none of the committee members said they were interested.
Quinn said he had talked to several county board members who expressed interest, and one of them would qualify as a resident of the proposed lake district.
The 10 applicants for the initial Board of Commissioners for the proposed lake district, in no particular order, include Dennis Coppernoll, 800th Avenue, Menomonie; Gerald R. (Jerry) Porter, 836th Avenue, Colfax; Kent B. Henschen, 882nd Avenue, Colfax; Al Brown, 768th Avenue, Menomonie; Tom Wendt, 750th Avenue, Menomonie; Peter D. Heimdahl, 520th Avenue, Menomonie; Thomas Bilse, 770th Avenue, Menomonie; Zach Raff. County Road G, Menomonie; Adam Mucks, 867th Avenue, Colfax; Grant Peissig, 819th Avenue, Colfax.
