By Craig Marx, Editor

On Tuesday morning, the Langlade County Board of Supervisors denied a resolution requested by board member Angie Schreiber attempting to limit the number of sub-committees that members would be allowed to serve on (see the full resolution proposal and story). The proposal came forward last week after Schreiber originally presented the resolution to the Executive Committee, where it was denied.

The vote on the resolution, outlined as RS 9-2017, came with questions over its wording, where it was eventually amended by a 15-5 majority vote to be dealt with next year at the county board’s reorganizational meeting held every two years in April as part of the decision making process of electing a new supervisory body.

Once amended, the resolution was voted down in its entirety. Requiring a 2/3s vote of the county board, 13 board members were in favor of the amended issue while seven were opposed – one vote shy of the 2/3s needed to at least have the resolution survive until April of 2018.

“I read the rules of the county board [last April] and all of the rules were discussed. The vote was 19-0 in favor of their adoption,” Supervisor Robert Benishek said about the board’s adoption of its current operating procedures at the 2016 reorganizational meeting. “Changing horses in the middle of the stream is not a good idea.”

With an emphasis for cooperation and information-sharing stressed both during the discussion and highlighted at the end of the meeting’s open session, Board Chairman Dave Solin expressed his disapproval of the proposed resolution.

“If you want to get rid of me, then get rid of me. I am doing this job as best I can for the people of Langlade County,” Solin stated.

The discussion did indeed intensify, leading to Supervisor Benishek trying to explain to Schreiber that she “has had some bad ideas in the past.” After explanation of the amendment procedure and its outcome on the proposal, however unnecessary once amended considering the delay of over a year to see it come back to a new governing body, was eventually voted on.

As the resolution is now off the table, the county board and its committees will continue to operate as such until the introduction of newly-elected members next spring.

Later in the morning, the board discussed information relating to the investigation of the county’s former HR director, Raymond Weitz, in a session closed to the public. More information, once made publicly available, will be provided in the future.

The board also took the time to recognize multiple county employees for their service to its citizens, including four Langlade County Sheriff’s Office deputies – Michael O’Neill, Joshua Warren, Thomas Connelly, and Travis Krueger – and dispatcher Anne Osborne on their exemplary response and professionalism demonstrated during a shooting and high-speed pursuit on July 26, 2016 (see also the reports and story of the incident).

Interim Sheriff John Schunke commended his employees for their service.

“As a supervisor, one of the hardest things to hear coming into work is ‘shots were fired.’ It is hard to portray what these people have done for our community. During the course [of the incident], deadly force was used. It is a situation we never want to see. I couldn’t be prouder to let you know the professionalism you can expect from these well-trained employees,” Schunke said.

Sandy Fischer, the long-time Register of Deeds for the county, was also given due merits as she retired as of January 3rd upon completing her last term. Fischer had been the Register of Deeds since 1981.