The Jefferson County Board held its regular meeting on March 14, 2017, to discuss many different topics affecting the county.
The meeting started with an introduction of commissioner Robert Dehring, Appointee Circuit Court Judge Branch 3, which will take effect April 1, 2017.
Dehring will be replacing Judge David Wambach.
Dehring stated that his overall plan will be to do more with less. “We are going to have less costs and less taxes,” Dehring stated. “We are going to run more efficiently.”
Following the introduction of the Judge was a PowerPoint presented by the Wisconsin Municipal Mutual Insurance Company.
Jefferson Country joined the WMMIC is 2009. The WMMIC is a Non-Assessable Mutual Insurance Company and was formed for counties and cities by counties and cities.
Its primary objective is to provide a stable and reliable source of liability insurance for the cities and counties.
The types of insurance that the WMMIC provides to Jefferson County includes law enforcement and jail liability, auto liability, public official’s errors and omissions, employment practices liability, cyber liability, excess workers’ compensation, and auto physical damage for county vehicles.
In addition, WMMIC provides Jefferson County loss control resources, actuarial estimates of annual retained losses, coverage opinions, and jail audits.
WMMIC’s original contribution was $783,000, and the total member surplus on December 31, 2015 was $1,010,554. In 2016 Jefferson County’s dividend was $31,904, and the dividend was 28 percent of its general liability premium.
Next on the meeting agenda was the annual reports. The Register of Deeds, Staci Hoffman reported that profits were up and $305,000 could go back into the general fund after expenses.
Hoffman also explained a new implemented process called Inspect. The process allows documents to be auto indexed. This results in less typing, less spelling errors and less carpel tunnel.
Hoffman also talked about new updates concerning vital records issuance. Records are now available to claim statewide and not just by specific county. Now anyone can stop by and pick up their birth certificate at any county in the state, not just the one they reside in. Hoffman also stated that this will soon be available for both death and marriage certificates as well.
The meeting closed with a report by County Clerk Barb Frank.
Frank introduced the new online voter registration available which will be handy during election seasons. Frank also discussed the recent election recount that was put together by Jill Stein.
“We should be excited! It’s our super bowl… But none of us felt that way.” Frank joked. However, this was a rare and special opportunity for the state of Wisconsin.
Frank finished by stating, “The recount went very well. It was an educational experience for our clerks who learned a lot from the process.”
