Patti Wohlfeil, Waushara County Health Officer, opened the Waushara County Board meeting on Feb. 15th with great news that the county COVID numbers are down. She reported the first week in February the county had 62 cases and last week there was a small outbreak in a CBRF, but she said the numbers are looking good and are down to about six a day. She said the county board of supervisors could make a motion to rescind the mask mandate at the courthouse. It did not take long for the Supervisor Bob Wedell to make the motion to rescind the masking and it was unanimously approved and the supervisors removed their masks.
Wohlfeil said that EMS, jail, and UW-Extension will continue to mask. She also said she appreciated the cooperation from the supervisors and employees and the mask mandate is lifted unless there would be a spike in positives.
Waushara County Admin-istrator, Melissa Pingel, said she received a resignation letter from Waushara County Clerk of Courts, Melissa Zamzow. Zamzow has been with the courts for 11 years and her last day with the county will be March 18th. Pingel said staffing is looking good and she has some interviews scheduled for a few open positions.
Pingel is also looking at the committee structure and asked the supervisors to look into the committees they serve on and if they would be interested in serving on different committees in the future. She also is looking at how often the committees meet. As for the building project, more bid notices will be released in March. Supervisor Brandon Bonfiglio asked if COVID premium pay for retirees would be addressed and Pingel said the personnel committee would address it at their meeting on Feb. 17th.
Brian Freimark, Highway Commissioner, gave his annual report that included the fact that his department is maintaining 136 miles of state roads, 334 miles county roads, and 367 miles of township roads. He said the fleet of vehicles owned by the county is valued at $461,125. In 2021 paving roads was up on the county side as County P was a large job. Freimark said seal coating was down in 2021.
A supervisor asked Freimark if the rumble strips on County P would be replaced and Freimark said at this time they are using additional signage and highlights set up by the DOT. Freimark said he could find a report of one accident, but heard there might be two at the intersection of County P and Hwy. 22. He reassured the board if it becomes a problem and the signage doesn’t work, he will look into replacing the rumble strips.
Freimark also said the county received $436,437.32 for the bridge over the Mecan in the Town of Dakota. The total cost of the building bridge will be $850,000 and this will bring the bridge up to legal standards so grant money could be used in the future.
In other business the supervisors approved a Resolution approving the participation in Wisconsin Statewide Mutual Aid Contract for Emergency Management & Authorizing county board chair to sign.
The board also approved Ordinance #670 appointing an Emergency Management Co-Ordinator to be available for emergencies occurring when the Head of Emergency Management is unavailable.
The board appointed Sara Stelter, FSA representative, Wautoma, to the Land, Water and Education Committee for a term of Feb. 2022 thru April 2023.
The next regular meeting of the Waushara County Board of Supervisors will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15 at the Waushara County Courthouse, Wautoma.
