Reliever Route---Upcoming Schedule

We have some more information on the reliever route, includng a specific schedule. This is a project I have been paying a lot of attention to, as it is a project whose costs will exceed $20 million dollars. Because of the potential cost and scope of this project, I want to hear from people in my district about it.

First the schedule:

• January 17th---The preliminary engineering study became available.
• January 24th (7:00 a.m.)---The Public Works and Executive Committee will be holding a joint meeting at the County Fair Park to discuss the engineering study.
• January 31st (6:30 p.m.)---Public listening session at the Hartford Town Hall related to the engneering study.
• Week of Febuary 6th---Joint meeting of the Public Works and Executive Committees to dicuss the economic impact study.
• February 28th (6:30 p.m.)---Public listening session at the Hartford Union High School related to the economic impact study.
• Week of March 6th---Public Works Committee meeting to consider the reliever route project, and adoption of Route 11.
• March 14th (7:30 a.m.)---County Board meeting to consider the reiever route project if approved by the Public Works Committee.  At his meeting, we will only be looking at the route, and not how we will fund it.

So with the current schedule, on March 14th I finally get my turn to decided if we will be proceeding with the reliever route.  I remain undecided on this issue, but a concern is that the engineering study increased the projected cost to $23.9 million dollars.  This engineering study is called a "30% study" which means that 70% of the details remain unstudied

At this point, I think that I will be deciding this issue based on the following criteria:

1. Which is greater, a) the cost of the project and its negative impacts on the agricultural community of Washington County or b) The potential for increasing the economic growth (new businesses) in Hartford as well as the potential to avert economic losses (businesses leaving) in Hartford.  In other words, does the County gain more than we lose?
2. Will the reliever route receive adequate use, or is it a potential boon-doggle (like Milwaukee's trolley or "streetcar")?  This is a concern I have been evaluating since the beginning of my review of the reliever route project.
3. What do my neighbors in West Bend believe?  IF YOU LIVE IN DISTRICT 3 IN WEST BEND, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU.

No Reliever Route Meeting

This evening I attended a meeting of the No Reliever Route group.  They are a group of citizens who will be affected by the highway 60 reliever route, if it is approved, and they are banding together to oppose the Reliever Route that is being proposed.  County Board Chairman Rick Gundrum.

I appreciated the opportunity to hear their concerns about this proposal, and the courtesy they showed me.  I met a lot of very nice people at the meeting, people who I would be happy to call my neighbors.  I heard a lot of good questions asked by them, and many of those questions mirror questions I also have related to this project.

I have not decided yet how I will vote on this proposal, I am waiting for the last key piece of information, the economic impact study.  Right now the timetable that is being published for the joint Executive Board and Public Works Committee meeting next week Tuesday indicates that the full County Board may finally get a chance to weigh in on this proposal for the March meeting.

First 6 Months

In October I completed my first 6 months on the board.  What have I done with my time so far?

Fiscal Responsibility:  I worked with the County Administrator and the other 25 County Board Supervisors to approve a budget that reduces taxes and, to the maximum extent possible, preserves funding of quality of life items.  I have also supported ways to provide services in ways that are more effective and reduce costs.

Quality of Life:  I worked to ensure that important quality of life programs like 4H and our parks would not experience any financial cuts.  I have also worked to ensure that the privately-funded homeless shelter is supported by the County, while working with the Homeless Coalition to ensure that it is built in a way that works well within the community.

Reliever Route:  I have invested an extensive amount of time into learning more about the reliever route, so that I can be prepared to make an fully informed decision on this $20 million dollar proposals.

Promoting Citizen Access:  I worked to try to move County Board meetings to the evening hours, to give everyone better assess to our proceedings.

Vote of No Confidence Delayed

Due to a couple of technical issues with the written proposal, the vote of no confidence on County Treasurer Jane Merten had to be delayed.

One question that has come up is what this resolution would actually solve.  First and foremost, it would put the County Treasurer on notice that we have higher expectations for her related to the County's internal controls.  It would also set the stage for additional action, if the Board decides that it may be necessary.

My comment in today's Washington County Daily News sums up my feelings.  Anyone can mistake a spoofed e-mail for a real e-mail, that's not the real issue.  Had she followed proper procedures, and refused to process the transaction until she had the correct paperwork, it would have been a non-issue.

The real issue is that she processed the transaction, with no invoice or other paperwork, based solely on an e-mail that went to her spam filter.  In doing this, she ignored the processes and controls that are put in place to prevent theft and fraud.  Since she is the person responsible for implementing those controls, this is in my eyes very concerning. 

Everything I have heard about Jane as a person is very positive.  This is not a referendum on Jane as a person, but on her handling of this incident and her operation & oversight of the Treasurer's department.

United Way

I don't normally talk about my giving, so this is unusual for me.  I received from the county a card with the opportunity to donate part of my salary as a County Board Supervisor to the United Way.  Looking at the groups I could dedicate my money to benefit, I saw several worthy groups that I have become more familiar with through my work on the human services committee, including the Heroin Task Force, Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, and Friends of Abused Families.

I have done some work with the Heroine Task Force.  I also know that Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, and Friends of Abused Families all lost some or all of their county grant money.  So I have decided to donate 1 month of my salary as County Board Supervisor, approximately $550, to the United Way.  I also chose to direct those contributions to these organizations (Heroin Task Force, Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, and Friends of Abused Families).

I am doing this because, now that I am in the public eye a bit more, I decided that this would be an opportunity for me to lead by example.  I ran for County Board with the interest of serving our community.  Sharing part of my salary is one way I can do that.  These are all very worthy organizations, and I encourage everyone who can give to the United Way at their workplace to consider increasing their donation, and directing that increase towards these organizations.

October 25 County Board Meeting

There is a very important agenda item on the October 25 County Board Meeting.  Now that the investigation is complete, a motion has been brought forward calling for a vote of no confidence in County Treasurer Jane Merten.  You can read more about the motion on Washington County Insider at washington-county-board-calls-for-no-confidence-vote-in-county-treasurer-merten/.

My perspective on this:  The core responsibility of the County Treasurer is to safeguard the county funds.  Basically, she is there to make sure that other county officials, like the County Administrator, the County Clerk, the Register of Deeds, etc... are not stealing money. She does this by setting up and enforcing internal controls.  Internal controls are the accounting language for procedures to check and make sure transactions are legitimate.  Since this transaction was spoofing Josh's e-mail, her job was to make sure Josh wasn't stealing money, by closely reviewing the paperwork (such as an invoice).  How can she do this if there was no paperwork?

This is concerning to me.  While it may be the first incident that we know of, I am concerned that there either might be more incidents that we have not discovered yet.  Worse yet, I am concerned that there will be more incidents in the future.  In my H.R. background, I have fired people for less than this, both as a consequence for what happened, as well as a preventative measure for what could happen.

These thoughts form the core of my mindset as I prepare for the upcoming County Board meeting.

More Reliver Route Work

The reliever route is a proposal that carries a significant pricetag, with many of the alternatives coming in around $20 million.  With a pricetag that high, I don't want to make any mistakes, so I am putting in a lot of time to gather as much information as possible.



This afternoon I spent almost two hours meeting with Scott Schmidt, the County's Highway Commissioner.  It was a very informative meeting, and I am very thankful to Scott for dedicating so much time.



We discussed each of the 5 routes that I see as viable, and what the benefits and challenges of each route were.  He also showed me maps and costing analysis for each of the routes that were looked at back in 2005, which included some southern options.  We talked about the southern options, and the potential costs ($20 million in 2005 dollars, probably $30-$40 million in 2016 dollars) and challenges associated with these options.



I walked out with new concerns about the reliever route, and whether it makes sense from a cost/benefit perspective.


Based on our discussion, I have decided to eliminate route 1 from my priority list.  That makes my current list:

1. Route 4 (inside Hartford route)
2. Route 7 (Arthur Road route)
3. Route 9 (Exit Highway K, transition to Arthur Road)
4. Route 11 (Highway K)