Shawano County elected officials gave a tentative thumbs-up to adding to its workforce in 2027, and the best part for local taxpayers is that most of them won’t result in a higher tax levy.
“We put a dollar amount so you know the impact on the budget,” Julie Hasser, human resources director and interim administrative coordinator, told executive committee members May 20. “Once you approve this, some of the new positions will then have to go to Cunningham Butler (for placement on the wage scale).”
Randy Young made a motion to approve the requests, with the understanding all would be reviewed again when the budget is formulated later this year. Kathy Luebke agreed.
“That’s when we’d have to cut it, if we can’t make the budget,” Luebke said. “When it comes to the budget, if we don’t have the money, we can’t approve them.”
In the human services department, director Rick Kane wants to add a deputy director position. This would not be a new job; rather, it would be an add-on to a current manager’s duties at a cost of $11,000.
“It’s the biggest department in the county — 150 people,” he said. “When I’m not around, some things just don’t get handled.”
There would be no guarantee the deputy director would become director when Kane retires.
“I have several managers that I think have potential to fill that position,” Kane said. “There’s not enough work to support that position permanently. This would have to be an added-on responsibility.”
There was a request to add a child support trainer/lead worker. The number of child support workers has decreased from eight to four in the past several year.
“The caseloads have not decreased,” Kane said. “There’s more of them than there’s ever been.”
“Since the beginning of the 2024 fiscal year, we’ve obtained over 200 more average cases than that we were operating with before,” added Francesca Thone, economic support/child support supervisor. “The workload is quite extensive.”
Two-thirds of the cost of the position would be covered by the state, leaving only one-third for the county to fund.
Finally, there was a request for a youth specialist case manager. This position is 100% funded through CLTS (Children’s Long-Term Support) Medicaid waiver/state funding, CCOP (Children’s Community Options Program) state allocation and CCS Medicaid reimbursement.
“Over the last couple years, CLTS has grown almost 100%, and CCS 30-40%,” said Tracy Van Ert, community services division manager.
Nick Mau, public health officer and department director, said the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection wants each county to handle their own food safety and recreational licensing instead of relying on the state. Included in the inspections is the collection of all fees, which the county would keep to cover the costs of the two new positions.
Mau said local inspectors would mean faster response times.
“Last year, when Jimmy John’s opened up, they probably could have opened up two or three weeks earlier had there not been the State Fair going on at that time, because there just weren’t enough agents from the state to be able to come and inspect,” he said. “It is impacting our business community.”
Restaurants are to be inspected every 12 months.
“There are restaurants going on 24, 36 months without an inspection, again because of the capacity at the state level,” Mau said. “I want all consumers to feel confident in the food that they’re purchasing in our county.”
DATCP said one person can regularly handle 200 licenses per year. Shawano County now has 375 licenses and inspections due each year.
Mau said additional work could be done by adding inspections of vacation rentals, many of which aren’t licensed.
He said the county could also take over DNR inspections of wells for businesses not hooked up to municipal water systems. That would generate another $20,000 annually.
Finally, Mau wanted to add a part-time public health nurse to the current staff of two full-time nurses.
“Our department has brought in $35,000 in additional grants in one year,” he said. “I’m confident, with adding capacity, we’ll be able to secure more funding. This is just again an ask. I’m going to lose people; I know I will, in the near future.”
The last position was a part-time assistant in the corporation counsel’s office. It was reported Larenda Maulson is now often working 50-60 hours per week, and some work still isn’t getting done.
It was noted she spends a significant amount of time on human services and termination of parental rights court proceedings.
“I believe the need is there,” Supervisor Tom Kautza said.
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