USMCA (Replacement for NAFTA) and Washington County

I want to support the agricultural industry in Washington County, and that means encouraging our federal legislature to pass the replacement agreement to NAFTA, the USMCA.

Canada and Mexico are our first and second largest exports markets for United States food and agricultural products, making up 31 percent of total food and agricultural exports in 2018.  For Wisconsin, as much as 70% of our export go to Canada and Mexico.  For that reason, the USMCA is a major win for our farmers and ranchers.

@realDonaldTrump

@WhiteHouse and

@USTradeRep#USMCANow

Protecting Our County From a $10 Million Dollar Tax Increase

At the August 2018 County Board Meeting, we decided to responsibly borrow $10 million dollars to fund our roads.  Unlike most government agencies, however, we decided that we were NOT going to raise taxes, but instead decided that we were going to live within our means. 


A few supervisors strayed from that plan, and proposed using this borrowing decision to raise taxes by $10 million dollars.  Fortunately, it only got 6 votes.  I joined 17 other supervisors in voting no.  We had the means to make our payments on this debt without increasing taxes, and we decided that we were going to hold the line on taxes.  I thank Supervisors Deiss, Kist, Jenkins, Bassill, Kelling, Krebs, Bertam, Blanchard, Brandt, Michalak, Burg, Bulawa, McCune, Kriefall, Gallitz, Sorce, and Schleif for presenting a united front, which I was proud to be a part of, and holding the line on taxes.


I wrote about that at the time here: https://district3bossert.blogspot.com/2018/08/this-weeks-county-board-meeting.html.

Digital Tools for the Digital Age - Bringing the County into the 21st Century

Yesterday I again supported modernizing the digital tools that County Administration uses, to help bring us into the 21st century.

As everyone might recall, shortly after I was elected in 2016, the County Board decided to spend nearly $1 million dollars to update its payroll system.  It was a decision I fully supported, as the system that the County was using was nearly 30 years old.  The system worked on green-screen, DOS-based technology.  It had no capability to connect to the County’s computer network, which meant that floppy drives were used to transfer data into our accounting system.  On top of all this, finding programmers who could resolve software errors was becoming increasingly difficult.  Three years later, Th e new payroll system is now installed and working great.

Yesterday at the Human Services committee meeting, we reviewed another digital system that needs updating.  Our Human Services department currently uses an electronic health records management system that was installed 7 years ago, in 2012.  The system is designed for small medical clinics that only have 1 or 2 practitioners, not for multi-faceted county departments.  The system is cumbersome and overworked.  It does not produce the reports and data that department heads need to have in order to make informed decisions.  When state and federal requirements change, the vendor who supplied this software offers no resources to address those changes, leaving our I.T. Department to try to reprogram the software.

Worst of all, we may very well be missing out on the opportunity to bill out between $400,000 and $600,000 per year in billable expenses due to our inadequate electronic health records management system.  I can’t blame our administrative staff for that, as they were never given the proper tools.

It would be unfair of me to make any comments on why the current electronic health records system was installed 7 years ago.  I wasn’t on the board then, and the current Human Services staff was not in place then.  It is entirely possible that the County Board in 2012 thought they were putting in an adequate system.

That said, it wasn’t an adequate system.  So now we are making the decision to give the County Administration a system that should meet its needs.  The new system is used by 26 other counties in Wisconsin, along with counties in all 50 states.  By all appearances, it appears to be exactly the system we need.  While the 5 year cost is $1.2 million dollars, it should enable use to recoup another $2 million to $3 million dollars in billable expenses.  In other words, it should more than pay for itself.  On top of that, it will help us provide better service to the people of Washington County by integrating data between departments, and it will give management the information it needs to make fully informed care decisions.

I am supporting this update.  In the 21st century, virtually everything is computerized.  We have to make sure our county has the proper digital tools to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Destination: White House

I am excited to announce that I will be a representative for Washington County at the White House.  In August, the White House will be hosting a 1-day conference for local elected leaders from Wisconsin.  This conference will be held in the White House complex (I don't yet know if it is in the East Wing, West Wing, or another building).  Elected leaders at the County and Municipal level are being invited, and so far I know at least 1 other County Supervisor might be attending, schedule permitting.  In an upcoming conference call, which will be held next week, we will learn more about the agenda for the conference. 


I do want to give recognition to the White House for their unprecedented outreach and two-way communication with State and local elected officials.  For the White House to reach out and engage local government officials in a significant and meaningful way, which they have been doing for the last year and a half, is excellent.  I've sat in on conference calls about key issues including infrastructure (roads and utilities), combating the heroin epidemic, and the local impact of trade agreements with Mexico and Canada.  Their conference calls are centered around two-way communication, where they invest the majority of their time taking questions and gathering input, but also share a lot of information with local leaders.  In talking with other County Board Supervisors who served during the Bush's and Obama's terms as President, they have not seen anything close to this level of outreach from the White House prior to President Trump, it truly is unprecedented.


I will be paying my own costs for this honor---Taxpayer costs will be $0.  It is my privilege to represent Washington County at this event, and I am excited for this opportunity.