 Welcome to Sheboygan County government working for you. My name is Adam Payne, County Administrator and co-host of this program with Chairman Tom Wagner and as you know every month we strive to focus on a different department, different programs and responsibilities. We have 144 million budget, 19 departments, over 200 programs and services, a lot going on and today we're very pleased for perhaps some of you to meet for the first time our new County Corporation Council, Crystal Fieber. Welcome. Thank you Adam, good morning Tom. It's nice to have you here. Crystal took over the reins from Carl Bezing who was our Corporation Council for a number of years but let's start with you Crystal. Please share a little bit about yourself, your background and and introduce yourself to the community. Sure. So I'm a Sheboygan County native, grew up in Sheboygan County, graduated from Plymouth High School. After that I went to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Go Badgers. Major in political science and international relations. After college I moved back to Sheboygan County, lived in Plymouth for a year and worked saving money for law school. So I sold cell phones and in bar attended. Then I attended the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mizzou and while there I was the editor-in-chief of the Missouri Environmental Law and Policy Review. I also worked at a small law firm that focused on personal injury work and interned at the Missouri Attorney General's Office. After law school I found my way back to Sheboygan County and started with my current firm Hoppnum and Humkey in 2006. And as you mentioned recently have taken over as Corporation Council for my predecessor Carl Bissing. He retired at the end of 2018 but prior to that I had had a lot of contact with the county department head staff and so was was well aware of the county workings because of having started with the firm in 2006. Absolutely fair to say you hit the ground running. It's been a seamless transition and and you've been well received by the team. So it's going well. Thank you Adam. I forgot that you were a badger. I'm a badger as well. Go badgers right? Are you going to a football game here in the upcoming future? I'd like to. I don't currently have tickets. Well I'll see if I can help you out there. I actually try to get to a game a year. Well again good to have you here. Please touch on the primary roles and responsibilities of being a Corporation Council. Some folks might be wondering well what do they do? The Corporation Council provides all of the the civil legal services for the county so whereas the DA's office works on on the criminal matters occurring within the county, my office handles the civil matters. So we advise the elected officials, elected and appointed officials, the department heads were responsible for providing ethics opinions if any of the officials have ethics questions. We draft the legislation resolutions and ordinances on which the county board acts and and just any of the general legal matters. And Tom, how has your advice been so far? It's been excellent. It's a really good job. I've known Crystal a long time in all honesty but no it was a very smooth transition. We looked for that to happen because one of the things I'll just add is we're a little unusual in Sheboygan County that we contract with a private firm and it's worked out wonderful in my opinion for Sheboygan County. We've looked at a number of times usually if there are size a lot of times we'll have an in-house corporate council but we believe that not only do we have the advantage of Crystal services primarily but we also get other people in our office who have different expertise so we're getting more for our buck we believe in Sheboygan County. And that is a perfect segue to my next question if you could you know share a little bit about how your office is structured and as a contracted department or service how long has this been in place? We do have a really unique relationship with Sheboygan County since 1955 my firm has been representing the county as the outside corporation council I believe we're one of three of the counties within the state of Wisconsin that handles their corporation council that way most of them as as Tom said are in-house corporation councils but in 1955 attorney Alex Hopp became the corporation council for Sheboygan County and then that work has stayed with my firm since 1955. And you work with a number of very talented partners? Well thank you I do there are six attorneys in my office currently attorney Mike Bauer handles a lot of the real estate work for the county he was instrumental in the acquisition of Amsterdam Dunes we have attorney Phil Miller who works closely with Laura Henning Lorenz in the county treasurer's office in the IMREM proceedings and for for the viewers that may not be familiar with that and IMREM proceeding is when there's a tax foreclosure for unpaid property taxes so there's a court process that Phil navigates with Laura Henning Lorenz we also have attorney Herb Humkey Herb does a lot of litigation for the firm and and for the county when there's a litigation matter we'll ask Herb to participate in that there is attorney Paul Dirksy he has he came to the firm in 2002 with a background in child support enforcement and guardianship matters Paul also does a lot of real estate work and then our newest member of the firm is attorney Oliver Bauer he works closely with the planning and conservation department on sanitary ordinance enforcement he does the caretaker male treatment cases for the county and he fills in for our assistant corporation council who will get to in just a minute when she's absent so our office does fill in that way for her and although not a member of my firm on my table of organization I do have an assistant corporation council who is excellent her name is Samantha Pastel she handles the child support enforcement and the mental health commitments and the adult guardianship cases for the county yeah wonderful overview and and if you're wondering you know well of only three counties in the state of contracted corporation council services does this really make the most sense for Sheboygan County the answer is yes not only do we have this wonderful track record dating back to 1955 but we've looked at it in fact we've looked at it on a couple of instances and compared in contrasted continuing with with contracted services versus bringing it in house and both times we've concluded that we receive better service and a stronger team with a contracted approach and the cost is actually more cost effective with their approach we have so we're fortunate I presume in some counties that just wouldn't work but it's worked very well here in and again we're glad crystal now has the reins and is it is leading the charge so as as people may think about an organization of our size I mean obviously there's so much going on providing services dealing with challenging cases whether it's health and human services child custody custody law enforcement I mean there's so much going on that can involve the need for legal advice but if you boil it down what would you say are some of the more routine responsibilities that the corporation council office has we do a lot of of contract review contract drafting for the county drafting ordinance and resolutions as I mentioned before so there's a lot of that and public records requests so the county gets numerous requests every week for the public who are interested in obtaining records and so many times those will be sent to us if there is some concern from a department head of records custodian about the release of the records many of them are released routinely without our office's involvement but we do regularly review those record requests as well yeah and I know Tom and I both rely on your office a lot rely on you specifically a lot just for legal interpretations even if an ordinance is in place there's still maybe some interpretation of that language or statutes that we need interpretation on and and you do a great job with that so thank you Tom right absolutely and the law is always changing right I mean it's static I mean there's no doubt about that in she went in county we're always looking to make improvements and there's going to be some changes in your office coming up for next year you want to talk about them a little bit yes we do have some big changes coming so my office will be hiring a another attorney to handle the the chips tprs and guardianship cases for the county chips are really children who are in need of protection and or services those are children who come into the system because their parents are unable to care for them and the county steps in and through the court system places them either with with relatives or with a foster family so that they can can get the care that they need the tpr cases are termination of parental rights cases so the goal is always reunification with a parent sometimes that's not possible and and then the county is is in a position where we need to be looking at terminating parental rights so we can give these children some some permanency for their future and some certainty about about where they're going to be in a year so we will be taking those cases over from the district attorney's office which is a trend that we've been seeing statewide over the last several years so the statutes provide that either the district attorney's office or corporation council can handle these kinds of matters for the county and in our case we're going to be making that that transition at the end of august of of 2019 we had in shaboy and counting we had 230 kids who are in out of home placement that's a lot of kids and we're seeing that number steadily rise over the last five years there's been a very significant increase in the number of children who have been placed out of homes along with those placements there is certainly a cost and so those costs are state mandates to the county an unfunded mandate so the county is also paying for these children to be placed out of homes in 2013 that cost is about 1.1 million in 2019 we're projected at about 2.2 million so that gives you an idea of the cost of this the average child is waiting about 3.3 years out of home before there's some some permanency or certainty for that child so with this transition to my office we're really looking to shorten the amount of time that a child is is in an out of home placement there are some parameters that we work with within the statute and it's a very serious situation when we're talking about terminating a parent's parental rights so not approaching this lightly but want to to the degree we can make this an easier process for the children going through this this difficult time yeah there's just sometimes where there's no question and those numbers are sad frankly but in some instances the child has to be somewhere else simply for their own protection absolutely yeah you kind of talked about it so and and and maybe if you want to just reiterate or whatever why do you think this is so important to move this over to your to your office well I think it's so important because we're looking to change the model in that we're going to have one dedicated person so we will be hiring a new attorney so certainly if any of our viewers our members of the state bar and interested or know someone who who might be interested we're looking at making a new hire this person will work closely with health and human services we want this person to be working with the social workers throughout those chips proceedings to make sure that the files are properly documented and it's not that our social workers aren't doing a good job now they are but we think with having an attorney more closely involved throughout the process that we are going to be able to create some efficiencies when it comes time if we are in that situation we're terminating parental rights so we think it's an important transition and and are hoping that we can create some efficiencies in that process yeah thanks are there any other key projects that I know that you're working on for the county right now one of the key projects is the us customs facility so as you're well aware we have the rider cup coming September 2020 so that should be an economic boom for our county and the Kohler company has a lot of international travel even outside of the rider cup but we're looking to have the us customs facility up and running at the Sheboygan county airport to service anyone who's who's coming in internationally for the rider cup but even after that we're expecting that there will be use significant business use from Kohler company as the main user but also our other local businesses who may have some international travel so we're working to get the customs facility constructed and that's well underway we also have a funding arrangement with Kohler company as the main user of the customs facility Kohler company has stepped up and will be funding the us customs officer there will also be it will be a user fee facility so while Kohler company will be entirely responsible for that funding for the first three years of a of an agreement that's roughly 30 years it'll go through 2050 after the first three years there will be user fees at the county airport and those user fees will be charged to anyone who's using the customs facility so not people who are using the airport in general just those who are using customs at the airport so I think that's a really exciting project and probably my favorite project that we have going on right now yeah it's a big deal and it's a big change I know road america uses people flying the road america to the Sheboygan county is a destination for a number of things with the golf courses and the racetrack those are two without a doubt that stand out in my mind always as a destination you don't find those two things in many counties without a doubt we're unique in our regard what do you think is the most time-consuming and challenging work that you've been doing for the county in your new position one of the most time-consuming pieces for me other than dealing with me outside of dealing with the county board chair yes one of the more time-consuming things that I work on relates to our health and human services department it's a huge department for the county and there's a lot of different legal issues occurring within that department because of the nature of their work there's a lot of federal law and state law and then we have our county code and so there are a lot of different places that I need to be looking when there's a legal issue that arises at health and human services so we have HIPAA is our federal law that protects the release of medical information so we're always checking that and then we have state confidentiality laws there are special laws related to the release of mental health or drug treatment records versus juvenile records and so there are really a lot of places to look when there's questions that arise related to to records releases at health and human services and sometimes those come in the form of general public records requests sometimes those come in the form of discovery during litigation an attorney may be requesting those records from health and human services so that's probably one of the more time-consuming pieces that I do in terms of challenging one of the the things I really like about my job is the variety so that's it's always a challenge when you're faced with something new every week and multiple times a week I have an issue arise that I've never encountered before so I would say that part is challenging but also the part of what part of what makes my job great I think I would be bored if it was very routine and I had the same questions coming at me every day county government is far from boring in many instances going back a little bit to the health human services I just wanted to yeah I think a lot of people aren't aware other than the Milwaukee County which the state operates their health and human services the other 71 counties we really deliver the services for the state of Wisconsin and in some instances federal flow through funds from Washington DC so that's constantly changing and that's why that department is rather large because it's the counties who are delivering all those services just another example of something that's going on would be juvenile detention they're looking at closing their juvenile detention up by wasa and it would be the counties who would take that over and basically build I think now they're looking at four new buildings and things like that so it's it's just a constant change in that area and they're always changing the regulations all the time so it is complex so I appreciate all your work with that so Adam thanks Tom as you mentioned health and human services our largest department so much going on there critical safety net services and obviously you have a assistant corporation council that spends some time there and with child support please share a little bit about that role of your your assistant corporation council and what their primary functions are because they're very critical to our operations they are so Sam Bastille she handles the child support enforcement so she's frequently in court um related to those issues then the chapter 51 mental health commitments so if there is someone who is is a risk to themselves those individuals will be taken in to have their their mental health evaluated and then there's a hearing to determine whether or not they are are at risk of harming themselves so she handles those hearings as well and then she does the guardianship sometimes we have adults who are not in a position to care for themselves sometimes those are our dementia issues and they don't have relatives in the area who are able to care for them so a neighbor might report that that there's that they have a concern and it comes to the county's attention and then Sam steps in and is involved in in the court proceeding to determine whether or not this individual is able to care for themselves if it's determined that they're not then there is is typically a corporate guardian appointed and that corporate guardian assists with with the the care of this adult that's the financial care medical treatment and and day to day living care yeah heavy lifting Sam I think is fantastic and really heavy matters to deal with dealing with a lot of emotions and and just challenging situations and she does it very effectively yeah well thank you for that overview so of course all these programs these services whether it's the corporation council department or one of the other 19 departments it takes funds to operate Sheboygan county government I think many of our viewers know that county government is the right arm of state government most of what we do is mandated by the state and sadly there's this long track record of the state requiring programs and services but not necessarily providing sufficient funds to implement them we have the property tax levy is our primary county board means of raising revenue to support programs and services and of course people don't want to see their property taxes go up and we all get that and the board has a wonderful track record of holding the line with that said now we have a one-size-fits-all property tax cap in place associated with net new construction and this is where folks might start to get a little fuzzy animal what does this all mean essentially what it means is the county is only able to raise property taxes now by a certain amount tied to net new construction can you in layperson language you know share that statutory umbrella that counties work with sure so this this levy limit was really imposed in 2011 so we had a little bit more flexibility before that time starting in 2011 the legislature imposed the the levy limit that would be equal for each municipality to the percentage increase in net new construction and what that means is it's it's the equalized value of net new construction so that's the fair market value I think most people know that we have municipal assessors they come out and they give me your your property and assessed value that's all then submitted to the state department of revenue and the in the department of revenue comes up with an equalized value so the the percentage that each municipality can increase their property tax levy is then limited to that percentage increase in equalized value of net new construction so the percentage increase in fair market value that's going to vary widely between municipalities municipalities that have a lot of development going on they're obviously going to have a higher percentage and a little bit more flexibility in determining their levy limit because that that levy limit is going to be higher and then there's some municipalities that are going to be you know stagnated if they have no net new construction that that then they do not get to increase their levy limits this is how it generally works so the challenge with that that the county board is faced with that we're all faced with as as department heads are very engaged with the budget development is you know the question people may pose well what does net new construction have to do with providing law enforcement or addressing mental health issues or dealing with termination of parental rights or guardianship i mean really there's no relationship with net new construction in providing these services some of which are on the arise unfortunately the county board led by tom wagner implemented the half percent sales tax a few years ago so now we have a a reliable funding source for our transportation system and we're doing great work out there dedicating that to our transportation and property tax relief and sharing it with other municipalities but my concern having been in this role now for a little over 20 years is the board has done such a remarkable job holding the line on property taxes well before this cap would into place but to put this in perspective the net new construction increase this year was 1.26 percent now if you're a fan of not seeing your property taxes go up which i certainly am that may not sound all bad but 1.2 point 1.26 percent is not enough revenue to cover wage and benefit increases alone yet alone other needs for example one of the key things we're dealing right now is the possibility of expanding our detention detention center we can borrow as much as we want by state law but to operate it it will cost us over a million closer to two million dollars to staff that detention center if we if we put a big 20 million dollar addition on so the question crystal is if net new construction is not sufficient going forward to cover a basic programs and services to maintain what we have yet alone address other needs such as a detention center that's full of the brim what what alternative does the county board have to try to raise additional revenue to meet these needs the county board would be able to submit it to a referendum which really means that the county board would submit it to the voters and the voters would determine whether or not we could exceed that percentage increase in net new construction so there would need to be a certain an explanation as to why why why we would be asking for the referendum and then the voters would see it as a question on their ballots right and this may be something going forward that the county board is going to have to do and i personally do not relish that idea i am a big fan of supporting local control which is why tom wagner and the county board was elected by their constituents but we may get to a point we're just to provide basic wage and benefit increases to cover ongoing costs we may have to go to a referendum to maintain programs and services so i share this and appreciate crystals explanation so our viewers appreciate that this may be a new approach going forward for sheboygan county in the next two three years on how we operate our organization and it's one that gives us all some angst because as you can imagine going to referendum to justify a cost of living pay increase for our correctional officers or whatever it may be feels almost punitive it's it's a difficult way to operate your organization especially one is complex desire so well absolutely and i think everyone is generally aware of the percentage increases in in health care costs in terms of health care insurance that alone you know i've seen numbers 12 percent 15 percent 22 percent so those are huge percentage increases and when we're talking about an organization the size of sheboygan county 1.2 1.26 percent really isn't going to cut it even for health care costs alone for the insurance coverage right so more more to be discussed there but wanted to bring that up next month we'll be talking more about our proposed 2020 budget we're in good shape for 2020 but every year it's getting tighter and we're getting closer i think to those types of referendum discussions i want to end it with a final question and this is so important to all of us and our organization's success we want more people to be involved with our county organization all of the county board meetings are open to the public all the committee meetings are open to the public what would your advice be crystal on how people can become more engaged or provide input or suggestions to the organization well certainly there's always the option to contact their elected officials all of the the county board supervisors have their contact information on the county website if you go to directory of officials you can find out who is your representative official if you're not familiar and certainly can reach out to that individual and express concerns ideas i think that's one of the the really great aspects of county government and local government is that the elected officials are available we sometimes don't get that same direct contact with state representatives because it's just a much bigger area that they cover but the the county officials certainly are available to the constituents if they want to reach out and contact them they certainly can write into the county board if they they don't feel like calling and there is an opportunity for a public address at the county board meetings we do have that built into the agenda so from time to time we will have citizens who request to appear if there's something on the county board agenda on which that person would like the county board to know their viewpoints yeah well thank you it's been an absolute pleasure talking with you for the last 30 minutes that went by pretty quickly didn't it thank you crystal well thank you so we appreciate your time we appreciate your leadership when we appreciate your firm's good work benefiting sheboygan county and all the citizens here so thank you so much and thank you for joining us if you have any further questions about our corporation council services don't hesitate to contact myself or crystal directly you can look at our website and you'll see the numbers and contact information for the different departments next month we're going to be talking about our 2020 budget our proposed budget we're just about wrapping up the process the board will be the final decision maker here in the end of october but we'll talk a little bit about what's what's the budget look like and some of the wonderful initiatives that are in play ahead so until then thank you for joining us and we'll see you next month