Local Call

Every city, town and village must conduct a board of review every year.  The board of review is a quasi-judicial body responsible for reviewing objections by property owners of their assessed property valuation and making a decision based upon the evidence presented.   Wisconsin law requires that at least one member of the municipal board of review receive certified training within two years of the first two-hour meeting of the first board of review meeting.  It is recommended by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, the Wisconsin Towns Association and the League of Wisconsin Municipalities that more than one member receive certified training for a more informed board, to cover board vacancies and other unforeseen circumstances.

The UW-Extension’s Local Government Center offers three different ways for board of review members to receive certified training:

1.  Four WisLine sessions are offered from 10:30 am – 12:50 pm on April 10, 24, 26 and May 1, 2012.  Attendance at any one of them will meet the training requirement.  Go to the Local Government website to download a brochure.
2. A CD of the WisLine program and the materials can be ordered using the WisLine brochure.
3. An online program with the materials, WisLine program and a video of a mock board of review is available at the UW-Extension Learning Store.

There are additional training options available to you that are listed at the Wisconsin Department of Revenue website Read more »

Each year, Carol Doran of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue would travel around the state and put on free half-day workshops for town clerks about how to complete their Form CT financial report.  With Carol’s retirement and no replacement yet in position, there will be no live workshops this year.  Carol did conduct a WisLine program called “Completing the Financial Report Form C” on March 3, 2009 and that is still available to you!  Go to the UW-Extension Learning Store  to order the online program and materials.  If you would like to order the CD and materials, please complete this order form and mail to the Local Government Center.    Read more »

March 12, 2012 ,Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess found Wisconsin’s Act 23, the Voter ID law, in violation of the right to vote under the Wisconsin Constitution, and permanently enjoined its enforcement.  In another case ,on March 6, Dane County Judge David Flanagan entered a preliminary injunction halting implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 23.   Trial is set for April 16^th to decide the lawsuit challenging law.  You can read preliminary injunction decision here.

The Government Accountability Board issued a statement that only those provisions of 2011 Wisconsin Act 23 that deal with photo identification will be considered under temporary injunction and that all other provisions of the law are still valid, including residency requirements and the need for voters to sign the poll list.  The Board also issued a memo to all Wisconsin municipal and county clerks detailing how the temporary injunction may affect the April 3^rd elections.

The Attorney General’s Office has stated that they plan to appeal both decision.  There are four different court challenges to the voter identification law in Wisconsin by different groups, so the applicability of the law or portions of it may be in question at different times.  Check the Government Accountability Board homepage for updates on the status of the voter identification law.

 Kate Lawton

A lawsuit challenging whether a town without a zoning ordinance could license and regulate non-metallic mining was decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on February 8, 2012.  The Town of Cooks Valley claimed its ordinance was enacted under its police powers as an exercise of town village powers.  Zwiefelhofer and other land owners in the town filed a lawsuit alleging that under Wisconsin law this was a zoning ordinance, and the town had not followed the required legal steps to enact a valid zoning ordinance.  The Supreme Court disagreed, saying it was not a zoning ordinance, but a valid exercise of police powers allowed as part of town village powers.

Professor Brian Ohm of the UW Madison and the UW Extension prepared a summary and analysis of the case.    It is reprinted below.  You may also see an article on the Wisconsin Bar Association web site.  The entire Zwiefelhor v Town of Cooks Valley decision is also available online.

The Local Government Center has available a recorded WisLine presentation “Sand and Other Nonmetallic Mining: Issues and Regulation” available with materials for purchase.   Here is Brian Ohm’s summary report: Read more »

The January 2012 cover story of Wisconsin Counties Magazine, the monthly publication of the Wisconsin Counties Association, is the 100^th Anniversary of University of Wisconsin Extension.  Sharing the limelight with Extension is an article focusing on the 20^th anniversary of the Local Government Center.  Written by former Center Director, Professor Emeritus David Hines, the article chronicles the origin and progress of the Center over the past two decades.  The entire article on Extension’s 100^th and the Local Governments Center’s 20^th are online, or Dave’s article is reprinted here. Read more »

An opportunity for detailed instruction on critical  subjects for local officials and staff is now available in CD bundles.  The live programs of  Open Government and Parliamentary Procedure WisLine Series are now completed.  But materials and recordings of the programs are always available.  You can choose programs on Open Meetings Law, and Public Records, Public Official Ethics or gain more confidence conducting or participating in meetings by attending the WisLine course on Parliamentary Procedure.  Instructors include attorneys from the Wisconsin Towns, Association, League of Municipalities, Wisconsin Justice Department and the UW Extension.

Larry Larmer taught a four program course on Parliamentary Procedure, and registration includes at a one-time special discount Larry’s book written especially for Wisconsin local governments.  Recorded programs are on CD or streamed through the Internet.  Find out more at the Local Government Center Web Site.

Philip Freeburg

It frequently happens at meetings.  Now does not seem the time to discuss or act on an issue.  But there the issue is ready for you on your meeting agenda.  Do you move to table, postpone or something else?  What is the difference?    We asked Professor Larry Larmer, Local Government Center Outreach Specialist and authority on Roberts Rules of Order for advice.  Here is his answer:

There are two types of “postponement.”  One is to postpone indefinitely, that is, to set a pending motion aside with no particular intention of ever taking it up again.  If a body postpones Read more »

You all know that the Open Meetings Law requires at least 24 hour notice before a meeting of a governmental body.  But do you recall that Wis. Stat. §990.001(4)(a)says, “when the time within which an act is to be done …is expressed in hours the whole of Sunday and of any legal holiday, from midnight to midnight, shall be excluded.”  Time is not counted on Sundays and holidays under that statute.

Thus posting a notice of a Monday 8:00 AM meeting at 8:00 AM Sunday would not be adequate notice under the 24 minimum requirement notice requirement of Wis. Stat. 19.84(5).  (Think of it as Jack Bauer’s 24 hour day TV show that ran with a week in between each hour of the 24 hours.)

Photograph from Internet Movie Data Base - © 2003 Alan Markfield, New Line Productions

The 2011 holiday season there is another wrinkle because Christmas Day and New Years Day are on Sunday.  Wis. Stat. §995.20 identifies Christmas and January 1, as legal holidays and further says that if the legal holiday falls on a Sunday then the next succeeding Monday is the legal holiday.  That gives the 24 hour notice requirement a 48 hour “time out” Read more »

It is easy to say “cut the budget,” but actual expenditure reductions that are effective and good policy are much more difficult. “Performance Measurement” is a becoming an increasingly useful tool that provides policy makers with the information they need to find the strengths of local government programs, and identify services are not performing up to expectations and needing improvement.

For several years Local Government Center has provided instruction and guidance on Performance Management. Now the popular how-to-manual “Performance Measurement & Outcome-Based Budgeting for Wisconsin Local Government” is available on the Local Government Center’s website in a fully downloadable format. Since first released in 2008, (now in its second edition) over 250 copies of the manual have been shared at statewide workshops and conferences, presentations direct to county boards, and UW Extension faculty. Read more »

November 9, 2011, a WisLine teleconference on plan commission roles and responsibilities begins the 2011-2012 Local Government Center’s Local Land Use Planning and Zoning WisLine series.  Land Use Specialist, Rebecca Roberts and Attorney Richard Nordeng will present “Plan Commission Conduct and Procedure.”   This first session is a primer on the business of plan commissions that will interest local officials, planning and zoning staffs and, of course, plan commissioners.  Roberts recently authored the article in the September the Municipality magazine entitled “Plan Commission Roles and Responsibilities.”

Subsequent WisLines programs in this series are: Read more »