 Welcome to Sheboygan County government working for you. My name's Adam Payne, Sheboygan County Administrator and co-host of this program with Chairman Roger Tostruti. Yes, Tostruti. There's a new individual to my left, your right. Roger just took over as the County Board Chairman about a month ago, so as you know, Chairman Mike Banderstein was co-hosting this program for the last four years, and my hope is Roger is gonna be here the next four, so we look forward to having him on the program. Of course, today our first guest with our new Chairman is Carl Bissing, our Corporation Council. Welcome, Carl. Thank you. Carl has a very important job of keeping the two of us out of trouble. He's one of 20 department heads, and as Corporation Council is our legal advisor, our attorney for the county, and has a very, very important role and responsibility to help the county board as a whole and our organization as a whole be successful. We have about 124, $25 million budget, 900 employees, now 24 county board supervisors, and a county administrator that's getting in. It all sorts of trouble all the time, so we have to have a good Corporation Council. And Carl, why don't you please begin by just sharing a little bit about yourself. When did you become Corporation Council? Sure, I'm a Sheboygan native. I went to high school with Chairman Tostruti's wife, so Noe Roger for a long time, or at least his wife for a long time. Small world, I didn't know that. I went to the University of Wisconsin Law School, graduated in 1976. I've been practicing law in Sheboygan since 1984, and have served as Corporation Council since 2001. I'm in private practice, which is a little different than most Corporation Councils and most department heads, in that I'm working for Sheboygan County under a contract. My law firm, Hop Newman-Humpkey, has had the contract, or my predecessor law firms, have had the contract since the 1950s, when Alex Hopp was the Corporation Council for a long time. We've got seven members of our law firm, and I'm the lead attorney for purposes of working with the county, but some of the other lawyers in our law firm do work for the county from time to time, and they're designated as assistants to the county when they operate on behalf of the county. So what year was it that you became lead Corp. Council? 2001. 2001, and I started in 1999, so it's been, I mean, time flies. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. And it's been fun. Your law firm, and you particularly, they have done an excellent job for us, and it's nice that if you're not available, or there's someone else who has an area of expertise, we have different people to go to, but why don't you set the stage sharing a little bit about what is the role of a Corporation Council? I imagine we may have some viewers who have just never, what's a Corp. Council, what do they do? Corporation Council is the attorney that does all the civil legal work for the county. Sometimes people get confused with the district attorney for the county. The district attorney prosecutes criminal cases on behalf of the citizens of Sheboygan County. But the civil matters, the contract negotiations, the review of contracts, the parliamentary procedure, the open records issues, the open meetings issues, any day-to-day activities for the county that require some legal work is the type of stuff I do, or my partners in my law firm do when they are acting on behalf of the county. And as you said, you've been contracted by the county for a number of years. Take us back in time a little bit. How did that come to be, and how was your office structured? Well, the position of Corporation Council used to be part of the job of the district attorney, and at a certain point in time, the county board decided to separate those duties and allow the district attorney to focus exclusively on criminal stuff. There wasn't at some point in time enough legal work to require the county to hire an attorney on a full-time basis. So Alex Hoppe's law firm was given the contract on a part-time basis. And over time, it continued to be contracted to the law firm. The contract is reviewed periodically, and I guess we've done a good enough job to satisfy the county and the county board that this works to the benefit of both the county and the taxpayers. So as you've indicated, Adam, we've been able to enlist the expertise of a variety of our attorneys to do projects on behalf of the county where they have some area of expertise rather than having an in-house attorney that may or may not have all the skills necessary for the needs of the county. So I think it's worked out well. I think it's worked out very well. And as you said, this is not the norm. I think most counties probably have an in-house attorney, someone that's on the county payroll. This is a contract situation, but the beauty of it is, is that not only do we have the benefit of your expertise, but we have an entire law firm available to us. And share a little bit about your partners. What kind of expertise, what kind of co-workers do you have? Well, for example, Phil Miller is an attorney in our office that does a lot of probate to state planning, business planning, and I've strong armed him into working with our county treasurers so that when there are foreclosures, tax foreclosures, and the like, Phil is the go-to person for county treasurer, Laura Hanning-Lorens. Crystal Fieber is an attorney in our office. I've asked her to work with the planning department to make sure that the septic and sewer system issues, private sewer system permits and so forth are addressed. Mike Bauer is an attorney who works with a lot of local municipalities. If I have an issue or a question dealing with open records or open meetings, he's a go-to person for me for those types of things. So it kind of works well that when I'm not able to do something or if I'm not comfortable in an area, I go to one of the other attorneys. Paul Dirksie, for example, has got a pretty good handle on child support issues, mental issues, mental commitment issues that the county is involved in. And so he's the backup in that area. So again, it works well. Works real well and of course, if you're on vacation or sick, we have someone else to turn to in your absence so it's worked out real well. Last question before I turn it over to Roger. So we have this entire law firm available to us so of course, you're the primary individual we work with. What, how much is the contract? Essentially, what are we paying for these services? It's about $200,000 a year. The contract provides everything, our postage, our malpractice insurance, our legal books, our secretarial work, our papers. Unless there's some real out of pocket expenses, dealing with something, it's all in. So there's no benefits as far as retirement or health insurance or anything like that. It's strictly a cash deal. And as you know, we've periodically compared in contract trusted your services versus bringing it in-house. Could we more cost effectively bring it in-house? And each and every time we've assessed that, ultimately we've concluded we have a good situation and the county board has re-upped the contract. I think generally they're three to four years, are they not? Four years. Four years, right. All right, with that I'll turn it over to the chairman. Thank you. Thank you, Adam. There have been a lot of changes coming out of Madison lately. How have some of those changes affected Sheboygan County government? Could you explain some of those? Well, most particularly in the last legislative session in the governor's budget and the governor's repair bill, obviously controversial, but at least in some respects it has given Sheboygan County some opportunities to make savings for the taxpayers. It's almost forced the county to make savings in some respects because part of the package has put limitations on the county's ability to raise property taxes to support its activities. On the other hand, as has been bantied about, there have been tools that have been given to the county government to handle the responsibilities that have been given when they're taking the ability to raise taxes away on the one hand, when they've taken away some of the state subsidies of county activities that are mandated. On the other hand, they've given some opportunities or tools to the county to manage this workload. Most importantly, on the collective bargaining area, they've scaled back considerably the collective bargaining obligations that the county would otherwise have with its employees. This has allowed the county to change some work rules and we're in the process of changing some work rules on the county level right now to make it more advantageous to the taxpayer and to allow the county administration to provide services to the taxpayer in a more responsible manner. So you feel that the outcome has been good for the taxpayer and we have adapted pretty well compared to some other counties? Well the outcome of the taxpayer is an open question and one that will be rolled out over the next one, two, three, four years and beyond unless there's a change and we roll it back but each year that contracts expire and as we move forward and implement some of the things I think will be very telling. We've gone through a real process on the county level and other units of government are doing the same thing where we've really been put to the test to make sure that our services are meeting the needs of the community while at the same time creating work rules, I say we, the county board, the county administration is creating work rules that allow for some flexibility while at the same time we need to make sure we're a responsible employer of the county employees. We've been working hard to make that balance. I think we're going to be successful but it's always a work in progress. Thank you. Now shifting gears a little bit, your department plays a big role in child support and mental commitments. Could you explain how that affects your department and the other departments that they touch? Sure. I just said that the county contracts with my law firm to provide the legal services that the county has but in two respects, that's not quite true. The legislature has mandated that county boards provide child support enforcement services for its citizens and the legislature has also mandated that counties provide mental health services, including involuntary mental health services when necessary. And those line item activities of legal counsel for child support enforcement and mental commitments, we have an on staff county employee, Natasha Torrey Morgan, who handles those day to day activities for those two departments. And she reports to me, I supervise her activities although she's been around nine years, you talk about time flies, she's been around nine years and is pretty autonomous as far as her activities. Those are some of the things you normally do. Are there any special projects going on out of the ordinary that have taken up much of your time lately? Well, when the county as a whole is engaging in some major activity, obviously, or some new initiative, obviously they wanna make sure that we're doing it properly. So for example, the county has been engaged in the initiative to reestablish freight rail service from Plymouth to Sheboygan Falls and beyond. The so-called T grant activity. And I've been involved with other units of government, with the State Department of Transportation, other of our departments to make sure that the legal documents relating to this re-initiation of rail service is done in a proper manner and that the county's interests are protected. So we're adding the rail service. On the other hand, the county is also involved in an initiative to take the former Chicago Northwestern, now known as Union Pacific rails that used to run through Sheboygan County. Those dormant rail lines are in the process of being converted into walking and bike trails. That's going from approximately Penn Avenue in Sheboygan, Penn and 13th Street, something like that, almost up to North Avenue in Sheboygan. We're working on making that a trail. So that requires acquisition, that requires looking at documents about easements, restrictions on how that trail would be used. All that stuff requires some legal documents that I have to review and make sure that the county's interests are protected. Another thing comes to mind, the shoreland and zoning ordinance, so you've been working on that? Yeah, that was a big project. I think I've just about completed my piece of it. The state has required each county to update and make changes to their shoreland zoning ordinances. And off the top of my head, I'm saying this wrong, but the county doesn't have general across the board zoning. Each township, each village, and each city has its own zoning, but overlapping at least within the unincorporated areas of the county where there's shorelines, wetlands. There is an area of zoning that the county supersedes or at least works along with municipalities unincorporated towns to handle activity within their shoreland zones. And I'm gonna say 17% of the unincorporated areas part of the shoreland zone of one kind or another that the county has jurisdiction on. We've had to update and overhaul our ordinances dealing with that. I've just reworked it to send it and it's being sent back to the planning department to make sure we're getting it right. And that'll be rolled out to the county board within the next month or two. Being, having served on HR, we get a printout on how much time you work on each department and certain things, but what's the most time consuming and challenging thing you've had in your time? Oh boy, that's hard to say because each year has new challenges, new opportunities. We spent an awful lot of time with the Sunny Ridge sales. We've spent an awful lot of time with the 800 megahertz conversion with the sheriff's department. Don't even ask me what that means, just I can tell you that the sheriff's department has been part of a conversion process of the bandwidth. That's not exactly the most exciting stuff in the world, but that's the type of behind the scenes activity that I work on on a day-to-day basis. Those have been some challenging ones. Just for example, yesterday and today I've spent the lion's share of my time dealing with the fact that our County Health and Human Services Department did an investigation of a foster home and concluded that the foster home parents were not adequately providing supervision for their children and they've made a finding that we should no longer place people in that foster home. The family gets to appeal that, so I've been going through and making sure that the appeal process is being properly prepared and that the Health and Human Service Department is properly represented in that appeal process. That's the type of stuff that doesn't make it to the front page, but it's the type of stuff that on a day-to-day basis we have to look at to make sure that the County is properly functioning for the benefit of the taxpayers. Thank you, Carl. Nice overview and hopefully folks are getting just a little appreciation for how incredibly important the corporation council's roles and responsibilities are. One of the things, of course, we share in common is that most department heads or departments are focusing on one particular area, whether it's the Sheriff's Department or Health and Human Services or Planning or the airport, you name it. Carl and I have the pleasure of working with all 20 departments and helping with initiatives, helping problem solve, and of course, in Carl's situation, making sure that legally we're doing things appropriately and so often behind the scenes Carl's involved with making sure things get done right. So when the County Board makes those decisions, all the documentations in place, all the due diligence has been done, and we're proceeding accordingly. And that makes me think a little bit about County Board meetings. Carl, I imagine from time to time people pick up the paper or here on the radio, well, the County Board just passed this ordinance or the County Board just passed this resolution. And I think a number of people might be wondering, well, what's the difference? What is the difference between an ordinance and resolution? Could you share that, please? The legislature has given the County Board the power, the authority, the responsibility and the obligation in some instances to enact various rules and regulations. And when the County Board enacts those rules and regulations, those are ordinances. So a speed limit on County Trunk A is, or a County Trunk D is an ordinance that the County Board enacts and if you violate the ordinance, it could subject you to a penalty. The County Board passes ordinances dealing with the internal structure and operations of the County Government. Those are reduced to ordinances because they are structural. On the other hand, if the County Board agrees to apply for a certain grant, that's sort of a one-shot deal and the County Board expresses its authorization through the passing of a resolution approving this grant application or a resolution approving a contract to continue. Things that are more of a one-shot deal as opposed to a structural deal or as opposed to a long-term regulation are done in the form of a resolution rather than an ordinance. Very good. So an ordinance, a law, a structural, a resolution, a policy action. Or a one-shot recital of authority or approval of a certain activity or policy by the County Board. Of course, the County Board meets once a month and the meetings last generally an hour or so. We have nine standing committees that meet as much as two times a month. And Carl is frequently called upon to be at particular committee meetings to respond to questions or concerns or follow up on something that they have a question on. At a County Board meeting, if a legal question comes up or Robert's Rules of Orders isn't followed appropriately, Carl provides assistance with that. So again, hands on throughout the organization and we're proud of our track record in Sheboygan County. Chairman Mike Van Der Stien certainly had a very successful tenure. We expect Chairman Roger Distruty to have the same. Roger's been the chair of our finance committee for the last four years. And as certainly the three of us are aware, Sheboygan County is the only county that's reduced property taxes for the last five years. We've been striving to be part of the solution as the economy turned and folks were hurting. We have been part of that solution. There's been a number of areas where we've consolidated or reduced. But back to the state question for you Carl, just to share your perspective a little bit. As you know, we were holding the line of reducing property taxes before cap was put in place. Now we have a very rigid cap where really very little property tax levy can be increased. And we've already done a lot to tighten our belt and streamline. There's always room for improvement. But what's your observation been of county government the last nearly decade that you've been in front of the county board chambers listening to the dialogue and hearing the debate and seeing the changes over the years? How do you see that relationship with between the county and the state? What do you think is working? Where do you think we're gonna need some room for improvement? Well, I guess I would say that over the last 10, 11, 12 years where I've been involved in the process and I'm not patting myself on the back because I'm not attributing it to me. But I see overall over the last 10, 12 years a real improvement in the quality of the operation. Some of it is driven by necessity as budgets are tightened. You have to make do better, more efficient with what you've got. The county went to the administrator process under your leadership, Adam. There's been a lot more accountability, a lot more oversight than part-time county board could otherwise do. So I see a lot more professionalism. I see a lot more innovation, a lot more willingness to look internally to see what improvements can be made. As you mentioned, I along with you deal with all departments. I see more efforts of collaboration between departments where somebody says, well, gee, I know that the county surveyor can work on that. So let's call up the highway department and see whether or not we can get the surveyor on board with this and the surveyor will do something for the building services or something like that. I see much more collaboration. I see much more creativity, creativity in some instances driven by necessity. I see many more efforts to improve accountability. I spent part of this morning working on chasing down a delinquent account for Rocky Noel, our nursing home. The department heads, the departments are trying to be more critical with the dollars that they're responsible for and be more accountable to make sure collections are done. So I just see a lot more efforts to improve our activities. Having said that, at some point we may say, we're almost about as good as we can do. And if we don't find another resource, whether it's raising taxes or I don't think there's too much more belt tightening we can do, so that'll provide some challenges. Yeah, yeah. And of course we've taken those challenges on in the past and we'll continue to take them on in the future. And if you didn't get a good feel for the corporation, councils, roles and responsibilities today, I hope that you'll follow up with Carl, his law firm continues to do excellent work for us. And Carl, I wanna thank you today for your overview and your comments. As you know, every month we try to bring a different department to you and with 20 departments we can't bring everyone in every year. But next month we're gonna have a new airport manager actually and airport superintendent with us. Speaking of consolidations, we're in the midst of consolidating our airport and highway department into a transportation department. Again, another cost saving move to tighten our belts a little bit, gain some efficiencies. And our new airport manager is gonna be here again next month to talk about his roles and responsibilities and so you can see him for yourself. So until then, again, thank you for joining us today and we'll see you next month.