Executive Committee - Regular Meeting — Minutes

Chippewa County Executive Committee Regular Meeting September 1, 2026 Chippewa County Courthouse, Room 302 4:30 PM 1. Call to Order The Chair called the meeting to order at 04:00 PM 2. Roll Call Members Present: Jason Bergeron, Joel Seidlitz, Kari Ives, Joseph Roshell, Karen Lotts Members Absent: Others Present: Andy Albarado, Traci Bremness, Jessica McDonald, Leah Simington, Dave Staber, Pam Guthman, Dennis Bachman, Brian Tonnancour, Todd Pauls, Andy Bauer 3. Members of the Public Wishing to Be Heard (Comments will be limited to 5 minutes per speaker.) Dave Staber, Town of Lafayette Chair and EMS Ad Hoc Committee member, does not see any benefit for creating an EMS Coordinator position. They will not be a trained EMS provider. Those funds should be used towards something else. He recognized Guthman for doing a great job facilitating the meetings. In order to solve the EMS issue, we need to find a way to fund full time staff rather than relying on volunteers. Brian Tonnancour, Chippewa Falls Fire Chief, thanked the EMS Committee for their work. There are a lot of great data points and foundation to work on. The City of Chippewa Falls is looking at ways they can provide additional services rather than just working within the boundaries of Chippewa Falls. He agrees there needs to be more discussions before moving forward with the EMS Coordinator position to make sure we do it the right way. 4. Consent Agenda (Unless separation of an item is requested, all items will be adopted under one motion.) Motion: Approved Result: Passed (5 - 0) Mover: None Seconder: Joel Seidlitz Ayes: Jason Bergeron, Joel Seidlitz, Kari Ives, Joseph Roshell, Karen Lotts Nayes: None Absent: 1. Approve the Agenda 2. Approve the Minutes - August 18, 2026 3. Schedule Next Meeting Date - September 15, 2026 5. Reports 1. Finance Update - 2nd Quarter - Leah Simington Simington reviewed the 2nd quarter financials through June 2026. This item was reviewed by the committee and will be forwarded to the County Board for review at the 09/08/2026 meeting. 6. Business Items 1. Resolution to Appoint Melissa Grill as Successor County Treasurer - Andy Albarado Albarado explained that Patty Schimmel’s last day is October 9, 2026. The resolution will authorize Melissa Grill to start as the County Treasurer on October 12, 2026. The recommendation is also to allow Melissa to start sooner on September 28, 2026 in a temporary position as Chief Deputy Treasurer to allow her to train with Schimmel prior to her departure. This item was reviewed by the committee and will be forwarded to the County Board for review at the 09/08/2026 meeting. Motion: Forwarded to the County Board Result: Passed (5 - 0) Mover: Joel Seidlitz Seconder: Joseph Roshell Ayes: Jason Bergeron, Joel Seidlitz, Kari Ives, Joseph Roshell, Karen Lotts Nayes: None Absent: 2. Resolution to Accept the Ad Hoc EMS Study Committee Final Report and Direct the County Administrator to Develop an Implementation Plan - Andy Albarado Albarado explained the Ad Hoc EMS Study Committee finished their review and presented their final report for consideration. One of the recommendations is for the County to create an EMS Coordinator position that would be funded with an EMS levy. See memo on file for more details. He clarified that accepting the report does not mean approving the recommendations. It directs the County Administrator to develop a plan on how to implement the recommendations and bring that back to the County Board for consideration. He does not think we should move quickly on creating the EMS Coordinator position. They need more time to research everything and also to let the municipalities and providers to digest the findings. Everyone needs to acknowledge that EMS services have changed and staffing them only with volunteers has become a challenge. It is not a statutory responsibility of counties to provide EMS services. It is a statutory responsibility of the towns and municipalities so the County will need to determine what level of involvement we should have. The committee agreed this issue is a priority and they want to keep it front and center. They would like Albarado to keep them informed on how the discussions are going and try to bring back a recommendation within six months. Guthman, Ad Hoc EMS Study Committee Chair, commented that a great deal of time has been invested in this analysis and a lot of data has been reviewed. A state expert was involved at the meetings. The report and recommendation is not to take over EMS at the county. One of the roles of the EMS Coordinator would be to help gather data and feedback from the providers and municipalities. Additional communication with EMS providers, EMTs, towns, and municipalities will be critical to finding a successful solution. She received a letter from Dr. Dixon, Medical Director, and he sees this as a steppingstone to finding a solution that could work for the county. This item was reviewed by the committee and will be forwarded to the County Board for review at the 09/08/2026 meeting. Motion: Forwarded to the County Board Result: Passed (5 - 0) Mover: Karen Lotts Seconder: Kari Ives Ayes: Jason Bergeron, Joel Seidlitz, Kari Ives, Joseph Roshell, Karen Lotts Nayes: None Absent: 3. Human Resources Policy Manual – General Revisions This item was reviewed by the committee and will be forwarded to the County Board for review at the 09/08/2026 meeting. Motion: Forwarded to the County Board Result: Passed (5 - 0) Mover: Joseph Roshell Seconder: Kari Ives Ayes: Jason Bergeron, Joel Seidlitz, Kari Ives, Joseph Roshell, Karen Lotts Nayes: None Absent: 4. Human Resources Policy Manual – Revisions Related to Implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Simington explained that currently in our policy holidays count towards overtime. The proposal is to change the policy so that holidays do not count towards overtime, which means employees need to actually work 40 hours before they get overtime. If the committee does not support that change then the other proposed changes are not needed. Motion: Motion to postpone this item until the 09/15/26 Executive Committee meeting so they have more time to understand the proposal and the issues associated with it. Result: (5 - 0) Mover: Joel Seidlitz Seconder: Karen Lotts Ayes: Jason Bergeron, Joel Seidlitz, Kari Ives, Joseph Roshell, Karen Lotts Nayes: None Absent: 7. Updates, Announcements, and Correspondence 1. County Board Chair Report 2. County Administrator Operation Report 8. Agenda Items for Future Consideration 9. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at: 05:57 PM Result: Passed (5 - 0) Mover: Joel Seidlitz Seconder: Joseph Roshell Ayes: Jason Bergeron, Joel Seidlitz, Kari Ives, Joseph Roshell, Karen Lotts Absent: