SHAWANO - Shawano County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $107,347 dollar grant to offset the expenses of operating the Shawano County Drug Court Program at their Wednesday meeting.
The drug court is about one year old and diverts people accused of drug-related crimes from regular court proceedings into treatment. There are currently six active participants and nine pending referrals from a total of 39 referrals, according to the resolution passed.
The grant from the Wisconsin Department of Justice requires a $35,782 cash match from the county and will go toward training, drug testing supplies and wages. The match was also approved. The court’s total budget is $149,000.
Because about 18 months are needed for a participant to complete the program, it is too early to determine the program’s success, according to discussion among board members. Supervisor Richard Ferfecki, Human Services Board member that administers the drug court, noted Shawano County was one of the last in the state to create a program “but reports are that it does work if it’s done right.”
Ferfecki said that it costs about $9,000 to treat a drug addict’s problems while it costs $20,000 to put that person in jail. “It’s a win-win,” he concluded.
Dan McCollum, Partnership Specialist at U.S. Census Bureau in Wausau, provided an overview of next year’s census. He urged cooperation with the county and census to get the most accurate figures possible. At stake is re-apportionment of legislative districts, grant eligibility “and you want to know who’s using your roads, where the children are that will need schools” among other planning needs, McCollum added.
McCollum, who lives in Elderon, urged completion online of the census questionnaire, saying it takes about five minutes to answer the nine questions. He said $1o7 is the value of every online completed questionnaire, as no further mail reminders or personal visit from an enumerator are necessary.
Wisconsin had the highest level of compliance with the census in 2010 in the nation, McCollum said, at 82 percent compared to 76 percent for the entire country.
Dale Hodkiewicz presented the Shawano County Agricultural Society’s annual report for the county fair. He called this year’s fair a great success with 68,000 attendees. The livestock sale took in $353,000, up $18,000 from 2018, he said.
The county board approved the five-year Outdoor Recreation Plan. The one dissenting vote was from Supervisor Mike McClelland, who questioned the speed of bringing the plan for county board approval when there were typographical errors and missing dates. The plan, prepared for free by the Northeast Wisconsin Regional Economic Planning Commission, required updating to keep the county eligible for grants and other programs, Supervisor Steve Gueths explained.
Supervisors concurred with the City of Shawano in expanding the Shawano City-County Airport Commission from five to seven members.
The board appointed James Joepeck to the Community Services Advisory Committee for a three-year term, appointed Jerry Wendland to fill the unexpired term of Clarence Natzke on the Housing Authority of Shawano County board until 2021 and re-appointed Terry Radtke to the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Commission for a three-year term.
On a voice vote, the board moved to consider a name change for the Tribal Affairs Committee after it had been considered by committee. Supervisor Joe Miller suggested the name wasn’t accurate. As tribes are governments, Miller, a Stockbridge-Munsee tribal member, said something like “Intergovernmental Affairs Committee” would be better.
Supervisor Deb Noffke went further, suggesting the current name may be offensive and hurt attendance. Supervisor Kathy Luebke, a Tribal Affairs Committee member, told the board the item will be on the committee’s next agenda. Chairman Jerry Erdmann asked Supervisor Peter Schmidt, the lone dissenting vote, if he wanted his vote recorded.
“Probably should,” Schmidt replied.
