Exec & Finance June 10, 2026 Minutes

Executive and Finance Meeting Minutes June 10, 2026 Virtual and in-person at County Board Room- Service Center – 480 Underwood Ave., Montello, WI 53949 Members present: Chuck Bornhoeft-Chairperson, Lance Achterberg, Judi Nigbor, John Bennett, Mike Raddatz, Ken Borzick, Gary Sorensen, John Larkin, and Abby Swan (virtual) Others present: Administrator Ron Barger, Corp Counsel Sean Griffin, Peggy Krause, Stacy Kohn, Melanie Zuehls (virtual), HS Director Mandy Stanley (virtual), EMS Director Rob Lulling (virtual), Health Director Jayme Sopha (virtual) 1. Chairperson Chuck Bornhoeft called the meeting to order at 1 0:00 a.m. 2. Moved by John Bennett and seconded by Mike Raddatz to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried. 3. Moved by Mike Raddatz and seconded by Gary Sorensen to approve t he minutes of the May 19, 2026, meeting. 4. Citizen Concerns and Comments- None 5. Report of Committee Members/Officials- None 6. Upcoming Events/Issues-None 7. Vouchers were reviewed. Treasurer ’s Tax Deed financial process was discussed. 8. Corporation Counsel representative Sean Griffin presented t he May 2026 report. He noted they have been assisting with Tax Deed properties, with one property requiring an ejectment filing. Administrator authority legal opinion was issued regarding contracts. Sean gave information regarding open meeting law and condemnation committees. 9. County Treasurer Jody Myers was unable to attend; however, her report noted the sales tax for April was $159,526.51. 10. Tourism and Social Media Coordinator Brett Klawitter was not in attendance and there were no reports uploaded at the time of the meeting. 11. IT Director Dan Buchholz gave a report regarding upcoming projects, noting the cycle of two large projects (network refresh and virtual environment refresh) will begin in 2028. The last network refresh was done in 2020 for around $120,000- $160,000. The update will be approximately $436,000, with the price increasing from now until the time we lock in on pricing. Dan reported the virtual hosts for the server system will need to be updated. Marquette County uses virtual server instead of a physical server system. Has in the past been around $80,000 for each upgrade. The quote to replace the hosts is currently $88,000. Dan reported we have 40 servers. Dan discussed the benefits of virtual servers- cost, production runtime, etc. A current issue due to recent failures is the door fob system. Door fob system is 20 years old. Dan reported that lately they have been having more issues with the system, especially within the Sheriff’s Office. The quote for the cloud-based door fob system was $83,000 last year and is now approx. $100,000. The current quote is only good for 30 days. Dan reported the benefit of going forward with this system is that it can tie into camera system for Sheriff’s Office. Dan reported that total of $525,000 could be wrapped into 2028 borrowing for the network refresh and virtual environment update. 60 doors and 1 gate is controlled by fob system. One door would be added during the update. Dan will look at one more company for comparison. Only two companies are viable for working the camera system with the fob system. Administrator Barger’s recommendation would be to include the fob upgrade in the 2027 budget with the comparable from the other company. The only outlying system is the asphalt plant, however they have their own camera systems. Licensing cost for 2027 which covers networking, printer contract, Microsoft, encryption software, etc. will be $265,334. Danny is working on a regionalized consortium which will have cost savings. This will be discussed in an upcoming closed session after Corp Counsel has reviewed it. Dan presented the AI Policy, which was reviewed and edited by Corporation Counsel. Dan noted the county has 20 Copilot licenses for AI software. Moved by Mike Raddatz and seconded by Lance Achterberg to approve the AI Policy and forward to County Board. Motion carried. 12. Ron Barger discussed 2026 Strategic Plan goals and initiatives. Administrator Barger requested committee and board input regarding surveys. Input from committee included to work with UW Extension, keep survey short, bring back sample surveys, etc. Exit interview discussion. Ron noted that 99% of employees have exit interviews through HR. Ron reaches out to Dept. Head if there is a noticeable trend in resignations. The Strategic Plan will be a standing agenda item for E&F and County Board. Questions and discussion regarding over/under report. Stacy Kohn noted the first quarter report has several footnotes detailing that many revenues and expenses are not reflected due to processing and end-of-year state submissions. Supervisor Achterberg requested it be presented quarterly with a comparable from the year prior. Supervisor Sorensen requested to see actuals and trends for large departments, possibly even a different format for the report. Discussion followed. Supervisor Raddatz requested adding a column to reference the prior year. After much discussion, the consensus was to have an additional column in the over/under form with a comparable for the next quarter. 13. A discussion was held regarding employee evaluations. HR, Corporation Counsel, and Administration will come back next month with a sample for the committee to review. 14. Supervisor Swan exited the meeting at 11:55 a.m. 15. Moved by Lance Achterberg seconded by Mike Raddatz to move into closed session under Wis. State Stat. 19.85(1)(c). Motion carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes. Closed session began at 11:55 a.m. A short recess was had from 11:55 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Supervisors Sorensen and Bennett exited the meeting at 12:30 p.m. 16. Moved by Ken Borzick and seconded by Mike Raddatz to convene into open session under Wis. State Stat. 19.85(2). Motion carried on a roll call vote with all members present voting yes. Open session began at 2:14 p.m. 17. Motion by Judi Nigbor and seconded by Lance Achterberg to forego a double per diem even though the meeting went over 4 hours. Motion carried. 18. The agenda having been completed Chairperson Chuck Bornhoeft declared the meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m. Kiley Lloyd, County Clerk