Kurt Berner, Samuels Group Vice President, gave a building update to the Waushara County Board of Supervisors at their regular monthly meeting on Dec. 20th at the Waushara County Courthouse, Wautoma. For the Government Center on Division Street adjacent the Waushara County Sheriff Office, the steel construction continues and there have been a few delays due to shortage of manpower, but there is no lead time problem. The date for completion is late Spring of 2024.
The structure for the Poy Sippi EMS/Senior Dining Center up and ready for insulation. The Waushara County Highway Shop foundation and stem walls are up. Berner said that there are adjustments being made to the floor plan and a bid sheet with adjustments will be presented to Building and Grounds.
Plans were presented for the Emergency Operations Center with bids requested by the end of January. He said there will be a pre-bid meeting for all bidders and a public bid opening and then bids will be brought back to the county board. Berner added that the evidence garage will be a metal building and they are finalizing floor plans.
The committee assigned to work on plans for the present courthouse and a Request For Proposal (RFP) will be sent out to investors by Jan. 9th. A walk through will be scheduled in February for interested investors.
UW-Extension Director Area 14, Pat Wagner, gave an overview of the area she covers before introducing the Waushara County UW staff including Heidi Hensel-Buntrock, Mary Ann Schilling, and Natasha Paris. She told the board that the funding for the Waushara staff is paid half by the county and half by the state. Presently there is an opening for a Food Wise educator.
Heidi Hensel-Buntrock, 4-H Educator, told the supervisors that there are 270 4-H members, 15 4-H Clubs, and 103 volunteers. She said this year they added the 4-Corners 4-H Club. The clubs meet monthly and meetings include three parts: the Learning, Leading, and Laughter. The most popular projects are art/photography, rabbits, poultry, swine, and vegetables.
Buntrock also provides programs on leadership and life skills, sewing Saturdays, art camp, day camp, Cloverbud camps, etc. She said the horse volunteers and youth are a dedicated group.
A bright spot for the 2022 Waushara County Fair is the Junior Livestock Auction and this past year thanks to the generous bidders, brought in $400,000. Buntrock also works with the A+ After School Program and area libraries.
Mary Ann Schilling, Health & Wellbeing Program, had 353 participants, 131 programs, and 3852 contacts. She works with Healthy Eating/Active Living Program and has Lunch & Learn’s for people to enjoy socialization, plus does works with the Aging Mastery Class that is in it’s 8th year.
Presently she is working with therapy dog visits that benefit employees and others. She also does a seven week We COPE course that works with mindfulness skills and more with inmates at the Waushara County Jail.
Schilling has worked with youth promoting health and well-being at the A+ After School program, and has led a Girl Power class for 40 girls. She also told of the Story Book Trail at Kusel Park encouraging board members to check it out in the spring and summer.
Natasha Paris has been with UW-Extension for the past six months and works in the agriculture program. She said the ag program has gone through changes and UW-Extension is operating under a new model. Paris is the Regional Crops Educator for Green Lake, Marquette, Waushara and Adams Counties. “We need to be more specialized,” Paris said. As for dairy farming she said there is a statewide team of educators that form a farm management team.
She said she enjoys working with vegetable farmers and has gained a great deal of knowledge about potato farming since taking over the position. She added that she enjoys her job and loves working with the area farmers.
A Notice of Injury and Claim was filed by Luke Albert Joseph, Hancock. The claim was disallowed by a unanimous vote.
The board voted to use the Opioid Settlement funds for distribution to help with the opioid epidemic in the county. The monies can be used for addiction and prevention measures. Supervisor Jesse Urban said the proposal for increased screening strips enables drug users, plus the needle exchange, and following discussion, was removed prior to the motion. Urban also wanted added to the motion that the monies would include expanding help for neonatal abstinence to aid infants. Following the discussion, those two items were omitted, and neonatal care for infants added and a motion was made and approved.
The board acknowledged Margaret (Peggy) Bott’s Service to and Retirement from Waushara County.
The board also approved the appointments of Zachary Baseman, M.D., Waupaca and Beth Osicka, RN, Wild Rose to the Board of Health and Barbara Diedrick to the Veterans Service Commission. All terms are from Jan. 1, 2023 through Dec. 31, 2025.
The next regular meeting of the Waushara County Board of Supervisors will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 6 p.m. in the county board room at the Waushara County Courthouse, Wautoma.
