 Six o'clock, so we'll call the Tuesday, March 16, 2021 meeting of the Oregon County Board in order. Are we certified in compliance with the open meeting law? We are. It was posted at 10.30 a.m. on the 15th of March. All right. With that, please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next item of business is roll call. All right. Supervisor Smith. Present. Supervisor Gruber. Supervisor Schneider. Here. Supervisor Montemayor. Here. Supervisor Clark. Here. Supervisor Nelson. Present. Supervisor Procek. In attendance. Supervisor Koch. Here. Supervisor Schobert. Present. Supervisor Brower. Here. Supervisor Jorgensen. Here. Supervisor Ziegelbauer. Present. Supervisor Nenig. Here. Supervisor Obler. Present. Supervisor Coulom. Here. There. Supervisor Damp. Present. Supervisor Wagner. Here. Here. Supervisor Emel. Present. Supervisor Ojay. Supervisor Hoffman. Here. Supervisor Hilblink. Supervisor Bosman. Here. Supervisor Veldman. Here. Supervisor Gehring. Here. Supervisor Tastruti. And just to circle back here. Supervisor Gruber. Supervisor Ojay. Supervisor Hilblink. Here. Supervisor Tastruti. All right, we have 22 Supervisors present. Did you catch Supervisor Gruber? Yes, Supervisor Gruber is present. Okay, thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we have a question for our witnesses. Consideration of Memorial Resolution. Regarding honoring the life of former County Board Supervisor Glenn Marcus. Whereas former County Board Supervisor Glenn C. Marcus passed away on January 14th, 2021. And whereas Mr. Marcus served as County Board Supervisor for 12 years from 1996 1998 on the finance committee from 1998 to the year 2000 and on the law committee from 2000 to 2008 and whereas Mr. Marcus also served as community as volunteer for the town of Sheboygan Falls fire department as an economics teacher at UW Sheboygan Lakeland College and Lakeshore Technical College and he taught fire science at Moraine Park Technical College later selling firefighting equipment at Oshkosh Fire and Police and whereas Mr. Marcus will be remembered as always having the public interest in mind who worked as an excellent advocate regarding the wise use of taxpayer funds in government and one who cared enough to check in with department heads after having left county government. Now therefore be it resolved that by passage of this resolution the county board herewith makes public its recognition of Mr. Marcus's dedicated service to the citizens of the county and expresses its heartfelt sympathy to his family and friends and especially his wife Allison and son Christopher be it further resolved that the clerk be directed to forward a copy this resolution to Alice Marcus and Christopher Marcus respectfully submitted the 16th day of March 2021 all right pursuant to county board rule 2.13 this resolution will be on the floor for immediate action you have a motion Supervisor Wagner thank you Mr. Chairman I would move for approval. Thank you Supervisor Wagner thank you Supervisor Hoffman on a voice for all those in favor of honoring former Supervisor Glenn Marcus say aye. Okay next item is the approval of the February 16 2021 journal Supervisor Procek. I so moved to adopt. Thank you Supervisor Procek Supervisor Abler. I'll support that motion Mr. Chair. Thank you Supervisor Abler is there any discussion? Hearing none all those in favor of the journal say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. Consideration of appointments by county administrator if there's no objection we'll take all these appointments in one vote. All right Elkhart Lake Public Library Board Mary Farron of Plymouth, Sheboygan County Affirmative Action Commission reappointment Kim Pegel of Sheboygan, Sheboygan County Recreational Facilities Management Advisory Committee reappointments David Smith, David Dearest and Mike Height all of Sheboygan and Sheboygan County Transportation Coordinating Committee reappointments Sarah Lucia of Sheboygan. Thank you. Supervisor Dam. Chairman I catch thank you. I move to approve all the appointments. Thank you Supervisor Dam. Supervisor Imel. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I will second that motion. Thank you Supervisor Imel. Is there any discussion? No discussion if the clerk could take a roll call vote please. You could do voice vote if you choose. Let's try a voice to start with. All those in favor of the appointments by the county administrator say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. Are there any presentations? We have none. All right. Public addresses? We have three this evening. The first is Suzanne Speltz and she's taking a seat right here on the phone. Hi my name is Suzanne Speltz and my address is 3811 Heather Valley Road in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Anyways thank you for allowing me to speak to you tonight. My topic is the issue of close to the public committee meetings along with expenditures for COVID. As a citizen of Sheboygan it is concerning to me that we are not able to attend these meetings in person despite the fact that you have spent all this money time and money to prepare the room to prevent the spread of COVID which includes plexiglass, masks, sanitizers, cleaning, social distancing. These meetings remain closed. The open records request I discovered that $294,330 was spent on medical and protective services and equipment including PPE. Also included is a quarantine equipment such as plexiglass, shields, thermal imaging camera systems in the courthouse, law enforcement center, health and human services, detention center and administration building. I realize that not all this money was for the committee meeting rooms however it shows the excessive spending on COVID preparations. And if all these measures are supposed to work then having the public attendant meetings in person should not be a problem. I find other purchases quite questionable as well. For instance there is an invoice for $8,500 for four thermal imaging cameras with facial recognition, $14,500 spent on marketing and advertising, $8,100 for marketing including geofencing all for Rocky Knoll. Now why would a nursing home need these items to help prevent with COVID, help with COVID spread? Also $503,000 was spent for contact tracing above and beyond those covered by existing state programs. So looking into this further here is the definition of some of these items. A geofence is a virtual geographic boundary defined by GPS or RFID technology that enables software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area. They could put up a geofence around the building meaning your phone disables it when you and south when you enter it. Thermal imaging is the technique of using heat given off by an object to produce an image of it or to locate it. A recent report from FDA states that thermal imaging cameras are inaccurate in taking people's temperatures and threaten the health of the American people. Also China has used thermal imaging to track entire populations. Contact tracing is just what it says a method of tracking and tracing its citizens. This brings up major concerns of privacy and intrusive surveillance by the government. Media has described these technologies as creepy. Why does government need to know all these things and all this for a cold flu virus that is almost 100% survivable? When have we had a flu season that has lasted for over a year? We should question these things and not take what the mainstream would like us to believe. Many of these measures to ensure our health and safety as the narrative states flies in the face of our constitutional rights. Whatever happened to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Some of us have heard these words when they say peace and safety sudden destruction comes upon them. Virtual meetings hinder us from being able to speak with our officials. Communication is not effective behind a computer screen as a public servant. You are not meeting the needs of your constituents by allowing us a voice, a physical presence and the ability to interpret communication beyond oral communication. It appears as if the county can use our taxpayer dollars, but we have no voice in our government. According to your mission, vision and guiding principles on your website, you've stated our mission is to provide courteous, responsive, efficient and effective services to those we serve. Our vision is to be recognized as a leader of responsive and cost effective local government. Encourage regular communication between citizens and county officials. I suggest that you abide by your words. We cannot stay locked up in our homes forever living in fear. It appears to me that the real pandemic is an economic, social emotional and mental health ramifications of all these so called protective measures have caused. It is time for all of us to get back to work and allow the citizens to have an equal say in our government as it was designed. Thank you, Suzanne. Next up will be Judy pool. Hi, my name is Judy pool and I'm at 18 Ashwood Drive in Sheboygan. And I'd like to read the mission statement from the county board website. Mission vision and guiding principles of Sheboygan County Board of Supervisors. The mission of Sheboygan County is to provide courteous, responsive, efficient and effective services to those we serve. One of the principles listed is to be dedicated to the concept of democratic local government. My concern is that many of the policies adopted by this board are coming from state officials, non governmental organizations, and public private partnerships. The Wisconsin County's Association drives the local policies that should be developed in Sheboygan County for Sheboygan County, not as an extension of the state. The WCA provided the wording for our so called local emergency declarations and continues to steer the policies of the board. Why is a county supervisor writing letters to the editors of several newspapers identifying those views as those of a quote Sheboygan County Board Supervisor and Health and Human Services Committee Chairman. We are being told a mass mandate is no longer being considered for Sheboygan County, yet so many resources have gone to pushing this agenda. And now the emphasis is on vaccinating everyone. Some people do not want to take this vaccine period. It is our choice or at least should remain so a political agenda should not be used to override any individuals constitutional rights. Some other principles from the Sheboygan County Board's mission statements, maintain a constructive objective and creative attitude, be dedicated to the highest ideals of honor and integrity and all public and personal relationships. Recognize that the chief function of local government is to serve the best interest of all citizens improve the quality and image of public service, encourage regular communication between citizens and county officials, and emphasize friendly and courteous service to the public. The supervisor alluded to previously did not follow any of the above principles outlined for board members. Calling any Sheboygan County residents, the anti mask crowd, polluting the air I breathe with your emitted vapors, anti mask faction bullies is unacceptable. As is the recommendation to compliment compliment those who wear a mask, as opposed to shaming those who don't. So I'm telling people to only spend their money at places that practice masking and social distancing is discriminating against individuals and businesses who do not agree with you. That is not how a public official should react to their constituents. Finally, turning around and glaring at someone in a public meeting who is 20 feet plus back in the back of the room is childless, childish and unprofessional. This person should resign. I followed the recommended procedures to bring my grievances to the executive committee, as they are also entrusted as the ethics committee for the county. Unfortunately, I've not heard back from one person on the board or executive committee regarding my February 3rd and February 6 2021 emails requesting an investigation and the removal of this member. I am still waiting five weeks later. Sadly, the mission of Sheboygan County to provide courteous, responsive, efficient and effective services to those we serve seems to be forgotten. Thank you very much. Thank you, Judy. Next up we have Stephanie aren't of Sheboygan Falls. Thank you for your time. My name is Stephanie aren't I live at 535 Richmond Avenue in Sheboygan Falls. I would like to address the recommendations that are coming out from the county and HHS. I spoke last August and stated that if you are going to recommend to an entire population, you better have science to back it up because medicine is not one size fits all. There is no science for the recommendations that you continue to put out. There is however report from the CDC that just came out on mask mandates and allowing on premises restaurant dining. That is very revealing. The study found that mask mandates only reduce the cases and death growth rates by 1.8%. So we we shut down economies, ruin businesses, stop people from breathing oxygen for 1.8% with for a virus that has an infection fatality rate of only 0.04% not for 0.04. Do you know the negative effects of these preventative measures? Unemployment rates, suicides, mental health, drug overdoses, keeping kids out of school. Here's some numbers for you. Opioid overdoses increased by 117%. The prevalence of depression symptoms in the US tripled. According to an article entitled masking children tragic, unscientific and damaging from the American Institute for Economic Research, which does cite sources and I'll forward to you. It tells us that emergency room visits linked to mental health health problems for children increased by 25% in children aged 5 to 11 increased 31% for those aged 12 to 17 and 25% of people aged 18 to 24 reported suicidal ideation. And I wonder what it was for children younger than that. The CDC's own February 2021 double mask study reported that masking may impede breathing, causing other issues. Scientific evidence also suggests masks are ineffective in reducing transmission transmission sources cited in the article that stated mass did not function after 20 minutes due to saturation. They become saturated and stop doing their job and pass on the droplets. So where is the science recommending that we should be wearing a mask and now double masking you're recommending, which leads me to something that may have catastrophic consequences. In a recent letter from a top vaccine expert and independent virologist, Geert van den Bosch, he wrote to the WHO and called for an immediate halt to all COVID-19 mass vaccinations. He says as a dedicated virologist and vaccine expert, I only make an exception when health authorities allow vaccines to be administered in ways that threaten public health, most certainly when scientific evidence is being ignored. The president the present extremely critical situation forces me to spread this emergency call as the unprecedented extent of human intervention in the COVID-19 pandemic is now at risk of resulting in a global catastrophe without equal. This call cannot sound loudly enough. He says there is at present massive evidence that viral immune escape is now threatening humanity. COVID-19 has already escaped people's innate immunity as reflected by multiple emerging, much more infectious viral variants, most likely due to the global implementation of infection prevention measures. The vaccine is driving these variants and could lead to vaccine resistant virus. Not only will people lose vaccine mediated protection, but also their precious innate immunity will be gone because the vaccinal antibodies are to compete natural antibodies. And this is long lasting. Besides this information, we know they have skipped animal trials which could lead to pathogenic priming where your body when coming into contact with a natural virus could react much worse. And then there are the reports that we already have. As of March 5th, there's the vaccine adverse events reporting system shows 1,524 deaths, 3,477 hospitalizations, 5,806 urgent care visits, 4,748 office visits, 292 cases anaphylaxis, 332 heart attacks, 66 miscarriages, 1,917 severe allergic reactions, 367 reports of Bell's palsy. And speaking of that, did you know that one of your own county workers is suffering with Bell's palsy right now after receiving his first dose of the vaccine and is still suffering as it's been over a month already? These, there are many injuries and reactions happening. And to put these numbers into perspective, a Harvard study found that less than 1% of all adverse reactions are even reported. So take these numbers and multiply that out. And just so you know, seizures are not a normal reaction. This is a vaccine reaction and should be reported to VAERS. Stop recommending to the population to go get an experimental therapy with death listed as a side effect. Take responsibility and do some of your own research instead of listening to those few in charge that say this is the only way. You are not the guardians of health for any man, woman or child in this county, just your own. It is your duty to review new information when it is presented and to answer to your constituents, otherwise you shouldn't be in your position. Any death from COVID is tragic, but so are the deaths or injuries from the vaccine. Thank you for your time. All right, board, that is it for public addresses. Thank you. Letters, communications and announcements. We have none. All right, County Administrators report. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, everyone. I'll start off briefly touching on a question that Supervisor Obler raised just before the meeting started regarding the status of County Board and committee meetings. As I think most of you are aware, if you had a chance to review that email I sent out a week or two ago, and I know we all receive a lot of emails, so don't feel badly if you didn't. But by County Board ordinance, the County Board Chair has the flexibility to hold remote meetings through April of 2022. So at this point, I know Chairman Koch, who's been having discussions with the executive committee on this for the past couple of few months now, has been very mindful of public health recommendations. We're currently at a COVID activity level of high, which obviously recommends few people get together in an indoor environment. So I anticipate Chairman Koch may continue to be holding remote County Board meetings for the next month or two, although that'll depend on the public health guidance that we receive. And obviously we want to lead by example in that regard. Whenever we get the County Board together, we have at least 25 board members and members of staff would have you. So that currently would exceed the capacity limits that our public health, not only at the local but state national level are recommending. As for committee meetings, obviously committee is generally five people. You may have two, three staff, perhaps individuals from the public. And if that number is 10 or less, we do think that we could start having committee meetings. So as you as you may be aware, effective starting in April at the discretion of the liaison committee chairs, either meetings in person remotely or a hybrid thereof will be will be permitted. And of course, our emphasis is airing on the side of safety and making sure that if a committee chooses to meet in person, that there's adequate room, adequate space in that conference room for people to social distance and be sure that they're not only protecting one another as as board members, but the staff involved, the public involved. And of course, mass will continue to need to be worn in county facilities. So I want to thank and acknowledge our deputy administrator administrator Lane Krause, our corporation council, Crystal Fieber and our IT director, Chris Lewinsky, who have been working on some remote participation standards or guidelines. We're going to be sharing that first draft with the executive committee this week, and we intend to forward that on to the entire county board next week so folks can prepare accordingly to start meeting as liaison committees in April if if the chair feels that's appropriate. And of course, board members may continue to call in or participate remotely. So we're allowing for three different approaches there. So that's the latest there. And the second thing I wanted to talk a little bit is the very subject at hand COVID-19 and the year review. So Chris Lewinsky could please prompt the PowerPoint presentation. Thank you for that, Chris. And before I start again, I want to thank and acknowledge our deputy administrator Lane Krause as well as our public health staff who helped prepare this for me. It's for many of us, I think it feels far more than a year has passed since COVID reared its ugly head in our country and since as a community, we've had to contend with it but certainly a lot has transpired the last year and I'm going to quickly go through some slides. Next please. So as everyone may recall, March 2020, we really had a very small case counting not only in the state but certainly in Sheboygan County at this time we were looking only at four active cases, no deaths. And for Sheboygan County I think many of us maybe felt perhaps we're insulated from this or maybe it's really not going to reach us or be as bad as some people were projecting or telling us at the national or global level. And sadly a year later you can see what's happened with our overall confirmed count. The U.S. active case continues to be over 7 million. There's been over 500,000 people who have died as a result of COVID or COVID being one of the key reasons why they passed. The Wisconsin confirmed cases over 500,000. Sadly we've had over 6,000 people pass away and we continue to see that number go up in Sheboygan County. Our current activity is 158 which is a far cry from where we were last November at our peak of 2,600 but we have had 132 residents of Sheboygan County pass away. Next slide please. From time to time you may have heard some comparisons made and I know early on in this process last March April of 2020 we had some people suggest that this was a hoax or that this was no worse than the flu or that we really didn't need to do anything to prepare for this pandemic. And unfortunately that did not turn out to be the case. If you just look at World War 2 alone over 400,000 people were killed or died of disease or gunfire. The Vietnam War, the Korean War, those three wars combined had less deaths than COVID and for those who continue on to point out the influenza or flu and say this is no worse look at the difference in the death toll in 2718 and 2018-19 in comparison to the past year with COVID-19. I think more people would probably argue today that we should have taken it even more seriously as a country than we did and fortunately things are turning we can see a light at the end of the tunnel but to have over 500,000 people die is truly sad and remarkable. Next slide please. Next slide please. There's been some stimulus packages as you know that have come to to help people in need. A lot of people have been out of work or have had health issues or had to stay home to care for loved ones or had to stay home to care for children so the federal government really stepped up and back in March of 2020 there was a 2.2 trillion dollar stimulus package. Again it's only been a year but I think sometimes people lose perspective and actually the three key actions that the federal government took in the past year and that was the first and made Wisconsin eligible for 2.3 billion and sheboyden county received four and a half million dollars in reimbursement for unexpected expenditures or revenue decreases predominantly on unexpected expenditures or costs associated with fighting the COVID battle. As you know the money was used to help pay for essential employees at Rocky Knoll certainly our first and foremost priority was to get personal protective equipment, sanitizing other steps to protect staff, protect the public and make sure that our health care workers could protect themselves as they were caring for loved ones at Rocky Knoll and nursing homes throughout the county. A testing and contact tracing was critically important to inform people that they were ill and to make sure that they didn't pass that on and again we had four and a half million dollars that I'll touch on in a moment that we were able to get reimbursed because of the federal stimulus. Next slide please. In December of 2020 we saw a second stimulus bill passed by Congress and signed by the president again to help people in need. It was a little different than the first of that 2.3 trillion about 900 billion was for COVID relief stimulus helped to people in need and 1.4 trillion for the federal operations. Wisconsin did not see any of this direct aid nor did Sheboygan county but the money was used for a second round of stimulus checks enhanced unemployment benefits reviving the paycheck protection program for small businesses. I know that was very helpful to a number of small businesses not only in Sheboygan county but throughout the state developing and purchasing the vaccines and the treatments that were all now relying on to get out of this situation and obviously safety enhancements for schools universities childcare facilities again to help people in need so those two rounds of stimulus funds from the federal government without question helped us keep people safe and helped us helped us continue to fight the battle. Next slide please. Most recently we've seen now our third stimulus package entitled the American Rescue Plan Act and this was a 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus package not as much as the first one in March of 2020 but nonetheless a lot of money and Wisconsin is going to be eligible for about 1.1 billion of that and what's really rare first in my career is local units of government across the country are also going to be eligible for direct payments direct payments to counties and a number of municipalities Boyden county is earmarked to receive 22.3 million these two payments will come directly from the U.S. Treasury and as you know the Treasury is currently in the midst of developing guidelines or criteria to provide further guidance on how these dollars can be spent what we do know is what you see at the bottom of the slide obviously this funding is to help respond to this public health emergency navigate the negative economic impacts help small businesses nonprofits people in need focus on our workers especially our essential employees our nurses and doctors and healthcare professionals people that are right in the line of fire helping people and risking their own safety obviously recouping revenue losses is in this package and it was not in the first and that's that's going to be helpful to us and helpful to to certainly local units of government across the state and then making key investments whether it's water sewer broadband and that i think is going to be further fleshed out we're hopeful from a state perspective our wisconsin counties association as you know has been monitoring this very closely as well as the national association of counties and we're hopeful that that may also include broader transportation roads and bridges you know to put this 22 million in perspective though this is this is unique this is new to us you could we could replace two or three bridges or some key segments of transportation and easily utilize 22.3 million so on the grand scheme of things though this is a lot of money coming directly to us from the federal government of all the roles and responsibilities that we have here it won't be difficult to responsibly utilize these funds to benefit our community and as i think about these funds and i know our board feels strongly about it we have to use it responsibly we have to use it to help people in need we need to utilize this to stimulate our local economic our local economy that's what it's for right and we just have a long track record here working in collaboration with others to help make good things happen so i fully expect that we're going going to engage the shiboyden county economic development corporation our business community and make sure that they have input as to how we make these investments also we're going to be looking to help nonprofits that are in the front lines and whether it's united way or other nonprofits we're going to want people's input and be sure that we use these funds in a collaborative and responsible manner to again help our community be successful next slide please so shiboyden county last march when we we saw this coming of course we didn't have many positive cases at that time as i mentioned next slide please but we anticipated it was going to get worse and fortunately we took some action as an organization we just didn't rest on our laurels or hope that it was all going to go away or just magically get better we put we put some expectations amongst our team to hold back on some expenses so we put a hiring freeze in place for non-essential staff it's always difficult in a county because the vast majority of our employees whether it's helping human services people are working at rocky no law enforcement most of our staff are are needed and those positions become vacant they need to be filled but we did hold off on some positions and then of course we cut some spending and contingency structural meals travel training furniture anything we could and ultimately that led to about one point four million dollars in savings when you have about a hundred and fifty million dollar budget that's not a tremendous amount of money but had we not taken any action we wouldn't have seen those savings and it was helpful next slide please the key area that we were concerned was about where the on budget expenses how do we fight this battle how do we hire additional contact tracers how do we purchase the personal protective equipment and ultimately we had four point one million dollars of unplanned expenses no one knew this was coming there's not a roadmap for this unless you want to go back a hundred years so you know when that was dealt with in a similar manner with masks and social distancing but we certainly had to pull together and we had to give our staff and our community some of the tools they needed to fight this pandemic and we did so and fortunately we were able to make adjustments as well as even pivot in the fact on how we hold our meetings staff meetings traveling to madison or meeting with our organizations so much has been done virtually now video conferencing in our five circuit courts has been tremendously successful and has helped keep our staff public and those involved safe so i'm very proud of the work that's been done but it cost some money next slide please we also saw some revenue reductions not as bad as we anticipated i sure that with the previously sales tax revenue actually just modestly exceeded expectations but we did see some delays and and funds to support opening our behavioral health residential facilities oh our market conditions have changed census dropped dramatically iraqi null from around 130 to 99 residents we're starting to see that tick back a little bit now but a number of departments saw less revenue and revenue reductions were not part of what was eligible under the federal stimulus funds next slide please but when it's all said and done we had about six point five million dollars of negative implications between the unbudgeted expenses and the lost revenue and fortunately because of the cost saving measures we took and the reimbursements that we were eligible for when it was all done we saw about a six hundred thousand dollar negative hit to our budget so that hits our fund balance but it's sure six hundred thousand is certainly a lot easier to absorb than six point five million and and uh you know we're grateful for the position that we're in we didn't have to deplete our reserves we didn't have to go back to property tax payers and ask them to shoulder more of this so that's the bottom line next slide next slide please as um one of the three i think citizen presenters mentioned there's been a lot of other impacts associated with this pandemic in this battle uh we're all concerned about fiscal but nothing hits home more than when you lose someone in your family or lose a friend so the deaths have been extensive there have been people that have recovered but will tell you that they're not feeling a hundred percent and without question the stress levels the anxiety has contributed to a need for more mental health services and we're seeing more and more studies and examples of all these these impacts and and the pressure it's going to put on us as an organization to help people in need and and help them recover it's not going to happen overnight i just i just thought the the visitation situation for healthcare facilities nursing homes hospitals when you have a loved one need or dying and you can't surround them with family you can't hold their hand i just thought that was a tremendous challenge for people the past year and continues to be although again we're seeing we're seeing trends turn in a better direction but not being able to attend a funeral for a family member or a friend and and hold them and and support them during that loss tremendous challenging experience for so many of us and the graduations and the weddings and all of the the important things that we've taken for granted for so long just didn't happen in many instances so it was a very impactful year for all of us for all of us and certainly none more so than people who lost a loved one but our our workers whether they're our healthcare providers or doctors or nurses or cna's or custodians or people who do the cleaning our law enforcement our emergency responders everyone who's been involved fighting this battle and striving to help people help keep people safe help keep our community safe uh we all need that gratitude and for me it was just so disheartening to see some people on kind to to these individuals to these workers who have given so much sacrifice so much put themselves in the line of fire risk their own health and then they would get calls or emails be threatened you know and they're just simply doing the best they can to help people and help our community i'll carry that with me for the rest of my life i just find it remarkable that some people chose that approach but it shows the level of stress and the anxiety and not everybody responds the same way i think most of us strive to lift people up and be supportive of one another and everybody takes that approach so it was a challenging year next slide some silver linings it's tough to think about silver linings when we're still in the battle but there certainly have been some the utilization of remote work we've got about 250 of our 839 employees working remotely some full-time some part-time and it's been well received not only for their ability to take care of their children or loved ones but uh we've learned a lot that people can really work effectively from home and in some cases more effectively more efficiently than they were at the office so that's been a silver lining the expanded technical capabilities Chris Lewinsky and i still chuckle about it and and it's just remarkable i i know all of you as board members how far have we come with our it capabilities i remember when ipads were rolled out a few years ago and was that a watershed moment for our organization and look at us today you know we're meeting virtually we're getting the business done and it's not the same it's not the same as meeting in person but we're continuing to provide critical important services for our community and you're able to continue to make decisions and we're able to continue to hear from the public and just a real credit to all of you and our all of our employees for the job they've done with IT capabilities and and garnering efficiencies to help one another be safe and gain efficiencies truly gain efficiencies i don't think we're going to see the days where people are driving to madison or stevens pointer throughout the state as much as they did in the past when they can have a virtual meeting for 45 minutes or an hour and save four hours of drive time why would we do that uh so it certainly has increased productivity and and and we've seen some benefit there but the perseverance of our of our staff and our community to fight this the collaboration that we've seen the collaboration has been remarkable what we've seen our administrative panel every monday 7 30 same groups still getting together including the presidents of aurora and the president of st nex and school administrators and health professionals and law enforcement i mean we have 30 35 people they give together every monday morning at 7 30 to talk about how can we work more effectively together to beat back this virus and help this community be be safe and get back to some normalcy these people are wonderful and and for anyone who thinks that we just get in a small room and roll our hands together make decisions independently as a county administrator as a county board supervisor doesn't work that way we work as a team in collaboration and during all this expertise from not only people in this community but statewide nationally and and that's been so beneficial and of course seeing the reduction in flu cases flu cases are way down because i think people have changed their behaviors not only wearing the masks which is such a simple thing to do in the grand scheme of things but washing their hands more the social distancing the cleaning hopefully some of those things will continue going forward so that's been a silver lining next slide please i tell you i'm encouraged i am so encouraged with what we're seeing with our vaccination situation a month or two ago we were all beaten the drama about the supply and making sure that we could get it to people who want it and as you know the supply was not there we only have five registered vaccinators here in shaboin county five that jumped to 13 and they they weren't all getting the vaccine and they still aren't getting the vaccine to the extent they want it and the capability they have to administer it but have we made progress over the last four six weeks not only as a country but as a state and as a county and as you can see now at least 65 percent or more of our residents that are 65 years and older the most vulnerable have received at least one dose of the vaccine that's incredible that's terrific and of course we're looking to see that continue to go up and get back to some normalcy so so happy about that the supply continues to be a challenge as i mentioned but slowly but surely it's getting better and that is going to be the difference in returning to normalcy in this county and across the state and country next slide please i lost my looking forward there chris is that right there it is thank you nice work last slide everyone we obviously have a goal as a country and as a state that every adult will be eligible for a vaccine in may so i mean that's a month and a half away or so right that's just fantastic and by june in sheboyton county we're very hopeful that we're going to see at least 60 percent of our residents vaccinated so again feeling hopeful feeling optimistic with this progression i'm i'm i'm feeling more optimistic than i have in the last year without question without question and the reasons are as i shared the support from the business community has been outstanding outstanding some people don't like public health guidelines why don't you take that up with the heads of polar company sargento master gallery johnsonville take that up with the sheboyton county economic development corporation take that up with the county chamber take that up with our hospital presidents and our school administrators and our teachers take that up with the nurses and our doctors we are pulling together in this county and people recognize that the best practices that have been recommended by public health do make a difference and are important a lot of good work the current trends are bearing it out things are looking brighter things are looking much brighter and now that we have 34 registered vaccinators we are poised like never before to get these vaccines in the arms of people that want them and that's a good thing but reached out to some school superintendents today and it's so encouraging to hear that many of our teachers many of our teachers have now been vaccinated and district school district employees critical to getting our kids back in school right i know we've had some hybrid opportunities throughout the county there but hopefully by next fall it's back to normal or at least as normal as it can be i'm concerned that i'm optimistic with the rider cup that's coming up in september and we're in discussions with pga leaders about what that could look like and none of us have a crystal ball they're concerned about variants and strains and what we're seeing globally in other countries but without question these vaccines and the rollout of the vaccines and more and more people taking the vaccine i think that's going to be the difference in a rider cup that has full capacity or near to it versus one that doesn't have many spectators at all so i'm encouraged i hope you're feeling encouraged and i'll end with a shout out to our public health staff the chamber just recently recognized our division of public health for their outstanding leadership they were selected as the service organization of the year our division of public health our county employees the service organization of the year by the county chamber what a wonderful accolade and we know how deserving it is but uh i think it it reflects the support by the business community for our public health staff and all we've tried to do to protect our community and help keep people safe so thank you everybody who's taken personal responsibility out there to be part of the solution and again thank you to the county board and our public health staff and everyone involved who's been fighting so hard to defeat COVID-19 and uh i know we're all looking forward to a a safe and more normal summer and i'll conclude there thank you mr chairman thank you tony administrator pain next is the consideration of committee reports executive committee ordinance number nine regarding amending shoreland ordinance in the town of holland committee recommendation to enact all right so supervisor obler i'll make a motion to approve the enactment of this ordinance nine thank you supervisor obler is there a second supervisor gehring thank you mr chairman i will second that motion thank you supervisor gehring is there any discussion okay hearing no discussion all those in favor of hi hi opposed motion carried in selection of committee reports human resource committee a committee report on classification structure and salary adjustments okay we will accept that for information and with that i hand the gavel over to supervisor zigglebauer good evening to you all for our resolutions interduce resolution number 29 from the finance committee regarding authorizing the finance committee and finance director to balance over budget departmental accounts resolution number 29 will be referred to executive ordinance is interduced ordinance number 10 from finance regarding changing supervisory district boundaries to reflect annexation from supervisory district 25 town of holland ordinance number 10 will be referred to executive ordinance number 11 also from finance regarding changing supervisory district boundaries to reflect annexations in supervisory district 16 and 17 city of plimps ordinance number 11 will also be referred to executive and ordinance number 12 from finance committee regarding changing city of shabuigan supervisory district boundaries to reflect annexations again it will be referred to executives in the absence of supervisor to strudel call on supervisor gehring to start the next order of business thank you mr sherman i move for adjournment may i have a second supervisor hoffman seconds thank you supervisor hoffman all those in favor aye none opposed we're adjourned thank you good night everyone