HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 2014 (33)
Resolution No. 33 (2014)
RESOLUTION SUPPORTING MAINTAINING THE EXISTING
COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR FORM OF GOVERNMENT
1 WHEREAS, from 1989 to 2010 St. Croix County operated under the administrative coordinator
2 form of government to coordinate administrative and management functions of the County; and
3
4 WHEREAS, in November, 2010 the Committee of the Whole met with the County
5 Administrators and County Board Chairs from Eau Claire and Polk Counties to discuss county
6 management structure - Administrative Coordinator vs. Administrator; and
7
8 WHEREAS, the Committee of the Whole made a motion to recommend to the County Board to
9 move in the direction of a County Administrator form of government; and
10
11 WHEREAS, on December 7, 2010 the County Board voted 18-1 to further study the concept of
12 changing from Administrative Coordinator to County Administrator (Resolution 44 (2010)); and
13
14 WHEREAS, from December 2010 to February 2011, a transition committee consisting of the
15 County Board Chair, Chair of Administration Committee, Corporation Counsel, Finance Director, Human
16 Resources Director and consultant Charlie Carlson worked on a position description, changes to the Rules
17 and Bylaws, employee handbook and recruitment plan; and
18
19 WHEREAS, on March 1, 2011 the County Board unanimously approved Resolution 16 (2011)
20 creating the Office of the County Administrator and Resolution 17 (2011) approving the position
21 description of County Administrator and the recruitment process; and
22
23 WHEREAS, on June 7, 2011 the County Board approved Resolution 46 (2011) appointing
24 Patrick Thompson County Administrator of St. Croix County; and
25
26 WHEREAS, on April 2, 2013 the County Board adopted Resolution 9 (2013) approving the
27 County Administrator's employment agreement, extending the term of the initial agreement through June
28 30, 2017; and
29
30 WHEREAS, at the Organizational Meeting of the Administration Committee on April 21, 2014,
31 "Form of Government, County Administrator or Administrative Coordinator" was added as a future
32 agenda item; and
33
34 THEREFORE, be it resolved that the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors maintain the
35 existing County Administrator form of governance.
Le-gal- Fiscal- Administrative Approvals:
Legal Note: None
Fiscal Impact: Unknown at this time.
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08/27/14 Administration Committee APPROVED
RESULT: APPROVED [4 TO 1]
MOVER: Roy Sjoberg, Supervisor
SECONDER: Ron Kiesler, Vice Chair
AYES: Travis Schachtner, Roy Sjoberg, Ron Kiesler, Judy Achterhof
NAYS: Jill Ann Berke
Vote Confirmation.
St. Croix County Board of Supervisors Action:
Roll Call - Vote Requirement - Majority of Supervisors Present
RESULT: ADOPTED [16 TO 2]
MOVER: Travis Schachtner, Supervisor
SECONDER: Daniel Hansen, Supervisor
AYES: Travis Schachtner, Agnes Ring, Christopher Babbitt, Howard Novotny, Roy Sjoberg, Stephen
Nielsen, Dave Ostness, Roger Larson, Daniel Hansen, Ron Kiesler, Andy Brinkman, David
Peterson, Paulette Anderson, Judy Achterhof, Shaela Leibfried, William Peavey
NAYS: Scott Nelson, Jill Ann Berke
ABSENT: Chris Kilber
This Resolution was Adopted by the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors on September 2, 2014
Cindy Campbell, County Clerk
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To: The Honorable St Croix County Board of Supervisors. May 29, 2014
From: John Krizek
Re: Evaluation of County Administrator form of operations vs. Administrative Coordinator.
I understand that the Board is considering whether to continue with the County Administrator
form of government or return to an Administrative Coordinator structure. I am not writing to
advocate either form of government but having been a County Administrator in Dunn County for
over 12 years and an Administrative Coordinator in St Croix County for over 10 years. I have
some perspectives on both forms of government that I would like to share with you.
The distinction between the two positions is the County Administrator "supervises" non
constitutional departments and the Administrative Coordinator is intended to "coordinate" the
activities of departments. The Administrator has the authority to supervise managers based on
the private sector model. Whereas the Coordinator is expected to supervise managers without
the authority to provide direction or corrective action if they do not fulfill their job description.
The Administrator can appoint department heads but those appointments must be confirmed by
the County Board. Providing a check and balance on the Administrators judgment.
The Coordinator will in most cases perform the recruitment process and the committee which
has oversight will interview the final candidates. The department head chosen by the committee
may or may not be brought before the full Board for confirmation. The appointed department
head, director, or commissioner work to satisfy their committee and do not have to accept the
direction of the Coordinator.
There is flexibility by the County Board through policy adoption to make both of these positions
as strong or limited as they see fit. For example many County Administrators can defer the
authority to appoint committees boards or commissions to the County Board Chair. Although
the statutes do not give the Administrative Coordinator supervisory authority over department
heads, the Board of Supervisors may give a limited amount of such authority to the
Administrative Coordinator under their Home Rule authority if they so choose.
The title "County Supervisor" appears to be a primary source of the misinterpretation of the
duties of Wisconsin County Boards of Supervisors. You do not directly "supervise" under
Wisconsin law; you "oversee" through your policy making and budgeting authority. So if the
County Board Members do not supervise managers and an Administrative Coordinator in the
strictest sense cannot supervise, who has the day to day accountability to assure the public
trust is being fulfilled? This is why the Legislature created the Administrator statute.
Neither the County Administrator nor the Administrative Coordinator have the power to make or
vote on policy. That is the total responsibility of the County Board. Often Coordinators and
Administrators alike are accused of having too much power when in reality all power comes
from the County Board.
If the policies of the previous board are not in the interest of your constituents then vote to
change them and it will be the job of either a County Administrator or an Administrative
Coordinator to carry them out. If you do not like a pay for performance system or the
privatization of county services, change it. You are in control.
My recommendation is that you perform due diligence before you vote for a change. Visit
counties like Marathon, La Crosse, or Eau Claire which have had the County Administrator form
of government for decades. Also visit growing counties similar to St Croix County that have
Administrative Coordinators. The more information you have will assist you in your decision.
Sincerely,
John C. Krizek
5/29/2014
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Resolution No.
ST. CROI X G;~;- Q U,NTY, RESOLUTION SUPPORTING MAINTAINING THE EXISTING
6%I ~'i.;ra~tsut COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR FORM OF GOVERNMENT
1 WHEREAS, from 1989 to 2010 St. Croix County operated under the administrative coordinator
2 form of government to coordinate administrative and management functions of the County; and
3
4 WHEREAS, in November, 2010 the Committee of the Whole met with the County
5 Administrators and County Board Chairs from Eau Claire and Polk Counties to discuss county
6 management structure - Administrative Coordinator vs. Administrator; and
7
8 WHEREAS, the Committee of the Whole made a motion to recommend to the County Board to
9 move in the direction of a County Administrator form of government; and
10
11 WHEREAS, on December 7, 2010 the County Board voted 18-1 to further study the concept of
12 changing from Administrative Coordinator to County Administrator (Resolution 44 (2010)); and
13
14 WHEREAS, from December 2010 to February 2011, a transition committee consisting of the
15 County Board Chair, Chair of Administration Committee, Corporation Counsel, Finance Director, Human
16 Resources Director and consultant Charlie Carlson worked on a position description, changes to the Rules
17 and Bylaws, employee handbook and recruitment plan; and
18
19 WHEREAS, on March 1, 2011 the County Board unanimously approved Resolution 16 (2011)
20 creating the Office of the County Administrator and Resolution 17 (2011) approving the position
21 description of County Administrator and the recruitment process; and
22
23 WHEREAS, on June 7, 2011 the County Board approved Resolution 46 (2011) appointing
24 Patrick Thompson County Administrator of St. Croix County; and
25
26 WHEREAS, on April 2, 2013 the County Board adopted Resolution 9 (2013) approving the
27 County Administrator's employment agreement, extending the term of the initial agreement through June
28 30, 2017; and
29
30 WHEREAS, at the Organizational Meeting of the Administration Committee on April 21, 2014,
31 "Form of Government, County Administrator or Administrative Coordinator" was added as a future
32 agenda item; and
33
34 THEREFORE, be it resolved that the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors maintain the
35 existing County Administrator form of governance.
Sponsored By: Administration Committee on August 27, 2014
Legal- Fiscal- Administrative Approvals:
Legal Note: None
Fiscal Impact: Unknown at this time.
cott Cox, Corporation u /21/2014 a en, mance Directo 8/2 /2014
• ~,,.r
(2.x
Pa ick Thompson, County Administ ator 8/21/2014
Administration Committee
Yes No Abstain Absent
Travis Schachtner 01 ❑ ❑ ❑
Ron Kiesler ❑ ❑ ❑
Jill Ann Berke ❑ ® ❑ ❑
Judy Achterhof ® ❑ ❑ ❑
Roy Sjoberg IS ❑ ❑ ❑
The Administration Committee on August 27, 2014
approved this resolution for submission to the full County
Board.
_f
ravi Schachtner, dfia-ir, Administration Committee
Date gned
St. Croix County Board of Supervisors Action:
Roll Call - Vote Requirement - Majority of Supervisors Present
Cindy Campbell, County Clerk
TO COUNTY SUPERVISORS:
RE: FORM OF GOVERNMENT
Form of government matters!!
Most would say:
1. A democratic government by people for people is the best form of governance.
(Bottom up, people vote, majority rule, etc.)
2. A dictator form of governance is bad. This form is scary for most people as they recognize what is implied by King George
type governance and don't want any part of it.
What about a corporate American organizational structure??
(top down, one person, chief executive officer/CEO or President is the decision maker)
This is yet another King George-type organization. Nothing democratic exists in the business organization.
Would you like to replace your local County government with a corporate business structure?? Why not?? What are the
major issues? This needs an open discussion and time to inform the public about governance issues.
How about the Administrator form of government? (State statute 59.18 and County organizational structure attached)
A description of the position states the County Administrator shall be the Chief Administrative Officer for the County.
Is this simply a different title for the corporate business structure? Does Chief Administrative Officer raise any red flags
when government by elected people for people is desired?
What is the role of our elected supervisors in the Administrator form of government?
Are they really in control of County business?
Do you have any ability to control County operations short of firing the Administrator?
What checks and balances can you add to County bylaws?
ST. CROIX COUNTY EXPERIENCE WITH THE ADMINISTRATOR FORM OF GOVERNANCE THAT SEPARATES OPERATIONAL
AND POLICY DECISION-MAKING:
The current Administrator form of governance promoted as the county's most important accomplishment last year was the
complete separation of operational decision-making from policy decision-making. The County bylaws were written and
re-written to support this current management structure, with the following results.
- Presently, our elected Board of Supervisors should only be involved in policy decision-making.
- All operational decision-making is the responsibility of our Administrator, Pat Thompson
In general, efforts to separate operational and policy decision-making has weakened, marginalized, and minimized our elected
County Supervisors to such an extent that we end up with government by Pat Thompson, our Administrator, rather than
government by the people. In actual practice, several major flaws surfaced.
1. Elected Supervisors lost control of topics for discussion at committee meetings. The Administrator, Pat Thompson,
controlled all committee agendas and approved all meeting minutes (changed by new Board members).
2. The Administrator, Pat Thompson, once obtaining approval of an annual budget, is in complete control of all expenditures
thereafter and elected officials were often not even aware of expenditures that were taking place (for example, the
expensive "glass palace").
3. Elected Supervisors found they could make policy decisions such as supporting the nursing home business but
the Administrator, Pat Thompson, could reduce the number of beds even to zero because "it's operations."
4. Elected Supervisors found they could vote to keep the Ag Building but the Administrator could re-locate people from the
building, stop accepting rent payments, and even offer the building for sale because "it's operations."
5. Re-write of County bylaws involving Resolution 66 allowed Administrator, Pat Thompson, to offer resolutions directly to
the Board, bypassing the normal committee resolution process, including canceling many committee meetings (addressed
by new Board members).
Norm Matzek
8/31/14
FORM OF GOVERNMENT:
In general, the experience people and employees of St. Croix County have had with the Administrator form of governance in
the past 2-3 years has been a disaster. The people of St. Croix County came together in the last election to vote for change.
These citizens expect to hold our elected Supervisors accountable for BOTH operations as well as policy decision-making.
Significant changes to the Administrator form of governance would have to be made to be acceptable.
Please inform the voters that currently you can only represent their policy issues. All County operations have been
outsourced to a third party-Pat Thompson, the Administrator.
Attempting to privatize our local St. Croix County government isn't working for the people!
I see no reason why the Board couldn't hire an Administrative-type person to handle day-to-day operations but with
the understanding that the Board is in charge of all operations and the Administrative person is simply an additional
pair of hands for the Board to take care of normal day-to-day activities.
That description is 180 degrees different from our current Administrator's belief that he is solely responsible for all County
operations and elected Board members have nothing to do with operations but can only make policy decisions. The
Administrator's actions noted above support the idea and demonstrate that he feels free to circumvent any Board
involvement. No matter what your special interest is (Ag Center, Nursing Home, St. Croix Industries, Employee Morale,
Land Sale, Glass Palace-or all of the above), they all have been negatively impacted by this structure.
In April, 2014, you were elected to correct the culture of corporate operations and be a voice for the concerned citizens.
SUGGESTIONS AND CONCERNS:
1. An employee handbook has minor impact on County governance.
2. A re-write of County bylaws and understanding State Statutes are the critical elements defining County governance.
3. It's insufficient information from Corporation Counsel Cox (5/29/14) to simply report that some counties use the
Administrator form of governance. The real understanding required is:
Have other counties tried to separate operational and policy decision-making?
or
Is St. Croix County the only one??
Corp Counsel Cox needs to bring back this additional information along with checks and balances described in their county
bylaws that place workable necessary controls on their Administrator.
I strongly suggest that the County Board delay a vote on form of governance and take the time to review the additional
information gathered from the counties by Cox. The necessary checks and balances that will assure County Supervisors are in
control of St. Croix County operations should be spelled out in the bylaws. Any required separation of Board Supervisors'
decision-making responsibilities or lack of workable controls to prevent this unfettered authority of the Administrator should
be viewed as a deal-breaker and a new form of governance chosen. St. Croix County needs to take the time necessary to get
this right!
Hopefully, some of these thoughts can provide the seed for needed discussion of this important issue. And remember
Edmund Burke's words: "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."
Norm Matzek
715-386-3065
Attachments:
State statute 59.18 re: County Administrator
Corporate Organizational Structure chart
Norm Matzek
8/31/14
1
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