A new fan in the horse barn at the Shawano County Fairgrounds created quite the mess for the Shawano County Ag and Extension Committee.
Members agreed to pay the remaining $950 of an invoice from work performed in June 2025, while also declaring the county will close its pockets to future projects if proper procedures are not followed.
“I don’t have a problem paying the $950,” Supervisor Randy Young said. “I have a problem with the process.”
The mess started about nine months ago when an individual volunteer with the UW Extension horse committee approved an agreement with Raddant Electric Service to install 10 GFCI receptacles for $3,175 and an 18-inch wall mount louvered exhaust fan for $950.
“They’re an independent group who just want to do things and get it done. I think that’s part of our issue,” said Megan Suehring, 4-H educator. “They’re used to just doing it and getting it done, but they don’t necessarily seek approval from the fair, and that’s where this is stemming from.”
She told them their first call has to be to the Shawano Area Agricultural Society, which runs the fairgrounds, as financial decision are not theirs to make.
“That’s been very explicitly communicated at this point, because this is the same group of people that we have communication gaps with,” Suehring said.
When Young asked who authorized the work, Suehring and Bob Schmidt of the ag society said they did not know.
Raddant sent an invoice to the ag society.
The UW Extension office of Shawano County agreed to pay the $3,175. The ag society then forwarded the remaining $950 to the county for payment.
However, county supervisors are upset because someone unknown to the committee is approving maintenance projects on county property without authorization and then expecting the county to pay the bill.
“The thing is, they just went with that fan without talking to any of us,” said Nick Hesse, the county’s facilities management director.
“That’s where we always have the issue — of not coming to us prior to doing projects,” Young added.
He said discussions about proper procedures have been held in the past, but nothing changes.
Julie Hasser, human resources director and interim administrative coordinator, said all concerned parties sat down together last month to come to an understanding of those procedures.
“We would encourage them, when an issue develops, to reach out to our maintenance department; so that at that point, before they call anybody else, their first call should be to Nick,” she said. “That, one, informs us immediately that there is an issue, and two, hopefully helps with cost in that maybe it’s something that we can fix. Everybody seemed to be on board, but again, we’ve gone down this road before.”
Supervisor Joe Miller was even more blunt, saying it’s the job of Hesse as the department head to determine what work needs to be done at county expense. Miller said the committee won’t approve any invoice without Hesse’s approval.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
