By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board has tabled the sale of $14.145 million in general obligation bonds to refinance what remains of the $22 million general obligation health care center bonds dated June 25, 2012.
The sale of the bonds is off the agenda, said David Bartlett, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the Dunn County Board, at the April 21 meeting.
The Dunn County Board had approved the refinancing at the March 18 meeting.
The Dunn County Board met by teleconference using the online platform called Zoom so that the 29 county board members, county staff, members of the public and members of the media did not have to crowd into the county board room in the basement of the Community Services Building on Highway 12 East.
The market is extremely volatile right now because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, said Paul Miller, county manager.
Over the past month, the amount of savings that would come from refinancing has fluctuated, and the rate dropped again the day of the county board meeting, he said.
The decreasing rate of return calls into question the fiscal advisability of refinancing right now, Miller said.
The county board can take up the issue of refinancing when the market is less volatile and should wait on re-issuing the bonds, he said.
Previously, the estimate of savings on refinancing the bonds was $400,000 to $800,000, depending upon the state of the bond market at any given time.
A projected savings of $434,000 amounted to a savings in interest expense of $51,000 annually.
COVID-19 response
A large number of Dunn County employees are telecommuting during the “Safer at Home” order from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Miller said during his report to the county board.
For example, 90 to 95 percent of the employees in the Dunn County Department of Human Services are working from home, he said.
The Community Services Building/Dunn County Government Center has a skeleton staff, which allows those who are working in the building to maintain social distancing, Miller said.
The Community Services Building is closed to the public, and people are allowed in by appointment only and are allowed to enter the building only after answering a series of questions about any possible exposure to COVID-19, he said.
Dunn County does have community spread of COVID-19, Miller noted.
After people leave the building following their appointments, the common areas in the office where they had the appointment are disinfected, he said.
All Dunn County services are working and continuing to serve the public, Miller said.
The Safer at Home order was recently extended from the original expiration date of April 24 to an expiration of May 26.
As a unit of county government, Dunn County only has the authority granted by the state, Miller said.
Dunn County will continue to follow the protocols that are in place, and Miller said he is expecting a slow phasing in of the opening up of public services and businesses.
Even when more buildings and businesses are open, people must remain proactive and maintain social distancing, do thorough hand-washing and cover sneezes and coughs, Miller said.
The worst case scenario would be to relax social distancing and Safer At Home too much, too soon, so that there is a surge of COVID-19 cases and the local health system becomes overwhelmed, he said.
“We don’t want to un-do all of our good work,” Miller said.
For the past month, the Dunn County Board’s committee meetings have been cancelled or postponed.
Mike Kneer, county board supervisor from Menomonie, wondered about having committee meetings by Zoom.
Miller said he anticipated all of the committee meetings would be held in May and that most of them would be through Zoom.
The Dunn County Board could possibly meet in person for the May meeting, he said.
Other business
In other business, the Dunn County Board:
• Approved on a second reading an amendment to the Planning, Resources and Development Committee ordinance to change the composition of the PR&D Committee to align with state law, which requires two members of the agriculture and extension committee, which is Dunn County’s Community, Resources and Tourism Committee, must also be on the water conservation committee, which is Dunn County’s PR&D Committee.
• Approved budget adjustments for grants amounting to nearly $92,000 for the Department of Human Services and $150,000 for a state award to the Department of Public Health for dealing with COVID-19.
• Proclaimed April 28, 2020, as Worker’s Memorial Day in Dunn County. April 28 was chosen by unions of the AFL-CIO as a day to remember and reflect on the lives of workers who have died from workplace injuries and disease.
• Learned from Jim Anderson, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the Community, Resources and Tourism Committee, that the Alice in Dairyland competition has been set back two years in Dunn County. Walworth County cannot hold the Alice in Dairyland competition this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and will host the competition next year, he said
• Learned the Dunn County Dairy Breakfast scheduled for June 13 has been cancelled because of COVID-19.
• Learned that the Dunn County Dairy Judging Team’s trip to Scotland has been rescheduled to next year because of COVID-19.
