Dunn County PR&D seeking applicants for lake district board
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Planning, Resources and Development Committee is seeking applicants to serve on the initial board of directors for the Tainter Lake Rehabilitation District if the county board approves the lake district.
Chase Cummings, Dunn County conservationist, told the PR&D committee at the November 8 meeting that to date, he had been contacted by one person who would be interested in serving on the lake district board but has not received any other inquiries.
The PR&D committee could use Dunn County’s social media page to recruit nominees, he said.
Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and chair of the PR&D committee, agreed that using the county’s social media page would be good idea.
The Friends of the Red Cedar Basin, the group that organized the petitions to form the lake district, will likely present some nominees as well, he said.
Monica Berrier, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the PR&D committee, said she would like to know a little bit about the applicants.
A short statement about their experience and about why they are interested in serving on the board would be helpful, she said.
The staff could make a simple application form so that PR&D committee members have a standard application to review, Quinn said.
PR&D committee members agreed that name, address, a statement about the reason for the applicant’s interest and relative experience, along with space to make additional comments, would be sufficient.
Mike Kneer, county board supervisor from Menomonie and a member of the PR&D committee, said the Colfax Messenger and the Glenwood City Tribune also would be useful for soliciting volunteers to serve on the lake district board.
Gary Bjork, county board supervisor from Colfax and a member of the PR&D committee, asked how many board members the Dunn County Board can appoint for the lake district.
According to state statute, the Dunn County Board would appoint four board members and the Tainter Town Board would appoint one member, Cummings said.
The county board appointments, with the exception of the one board member appointed to represent the county’s Land Conservation Committee, are temporary, until the lake district holds the first annual meeting and members of the lake district elect three board members, he said.
The Town of Tainter would appoint one lake district member because Tainter is the municipality with the largest number of landowners in the proposed lake district.
The three at-large members appointed by the county board must be property owners in the lake district, Cummings said.
Can a lake district enact an ordinance that would supersede a county ordinance? Bjork asked.
The answer is “no,” Cummings said.
A lake district board of directors could, in conjunction with the town board, enact an ordinance pertaining to boating regulations, but the lake district board could not enact any ordinance that would supersede the county ordinances, he said.
Timeline
What is the timeline for the board member applications? Cummings asked.
A draft of the order to form the lake district will be available for the PR&D committee to discuss at the November 22 meeting, and the county board will consider whether to approve the lake district at the January 18 meeting, he noted.
PR&D committee members agreed the December 13 meeting should be the deadline for the applications for volunteers to serve on a lake district board.
The PR&D committee will have several meetings after that to consider the applications and other business pertaining to the formation of a lake district prior to the county board meeting on January 18, Cummings said.
By state statute, the Dunn County Board would technically have until February 9 to make a decision about forming a lake district, but that would require a special meeting of the Dunn County Board, which is the reason why the lake district will come before the county board at the regular meeting on January 18, he said.
