Robert Sivick, Waushara County Administrator, re-ported to the Waushara County Board of Supervisors on June 16th the affects that COVID19 has had on the county. He said in the last ten days the number of those testing positive has doubled in the county. He added that we must maintain diligent in social distancing, unnecessary contact, and wearing a mask.
COVID19 is the source of many problems including the job loss in Waushara County, Wisconsin, and the nation. “We are still in bad shape and I believe we will not get back to a normal till 2023,” Sivick said. This makes it tough on the proposed budget. He is hoping that congress will approve a relief package for counties. Presently Waushara County has a hiring freeze on and they will likely propose no increases for non-union employees for 2021.
Sivick also added that they are looking a health insurance options and a plan they are presently looking at may give them a break.
Even though COVID continues to take its toll, the county is going ahead with the renovation project for the county buildings. He said the economy will come back and this is a long range project and it is time to invest in the buildings as many of the problems including the boiler system is no longer effective and efficient and was installed during the Eisenhower era.
Heather Schwersenka, Register of Deeds, opened her annual report listing her staff, which included Michelle Wedde, full time, and Alisa Lemke, part time. She said in 2019 there were 2599 land records recorded and $42,015 fees collected.
She added that the real estate market is hot and refinances have been very active.
The pandemic did slow down office traffic, but in the last month it is slowly increasing. She has considered increasing the online subscription as it has not been increased since 2017.
Since March 18, the office has been able to proceed with electronic notarization and that has definitely helped during the COVID19 guidelines.
Schwersenska is pleased that the county is a pin driven county where it is easy to located property addresses, owner’s name, and parcel ID numbers. “This is a one stop shop with faster and easier access to data,” she added. She said by going to the Waushara County homepage, tax portal, and then to GIS map links there will be tax and land records information. This is a way to get online access and purchase them, she said.
Sheriff Wally Zuehlke addressed the board and said he was appreciative of their support. He said with the problems with the recent police situation the county has purchased the air soft training that introduces the officers to stress, force on force, and shoot or don’t shoot. Supervisor Bob Wedell asked if the county had thought about body cams? Sheriff Zuehlke said they would need 26 of them and they would work with the HD Panasonic Cameras they have in place with their dash cams. He did add that the audio on the dash cams has been increased to a mile range.
In other business the board approved a resolution supporting the Veterans Outreach (CVSO) Act. Chairperson Donna Kalata congratulated Bill Rosenau and his assistant for their hard work.
The board approved two resolutions recognizing Marie Jach and Scott Schuman, for their service to Waushara County and wished them well in their retirement.
The next meeting of the Waushara County Board of Supervisors will be held on July 21st at 7 p.m. at Waushara County Courthouse, Wautoma.