County OKs new 911 center

By Steve Sharp of the Daily Times staff
Wednesday, May 9, 2007 1:44 PM CDT

JEFFERSON - In addition to approving a new 911 center for its sheriff's department, the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday evening, after much debate, decided against building a new show arena at Jefferson County Fair Park.

County Administrator Gary Petre said the estimated construction and other one-time costs could reach as much as $1.4 million for the project, but Petre also reported on the possible financial gains of building a new arena over time for the county.

Some supervisors, including Rodney Laudenslager and Greg David of Watertown, as well as Howard Wiedenhoeft of Ixonia, said a new arena could be a boon to economic development not just in Jefferson, but throughout the county. They also said that the county has put much support behind the fair park to date and should continue to do so.

“We've invested a lot of money into the fair park and we look forward to the day when we don't have to subsidize it. This investment, as well as economic development and reduction in the county tax levy would bring us closer to our goals,” Laudenslager said. “This might be a really important step toward us reaching our goals.”

After discussion that included input from a large number of board members, however, the resolution to hire Fort Atkinson-based architects The Design Alliance for $32,000 to create a plan for the building was defeated. A total of 18 board members voted in favor of it, with 10 against it. The motion failed because state statute required it receive 20 affirmative votes, or two-thirds of the board. Voting against the resolution were Ron Buchanan, Marvin Munyon, Mike Burow, Pam Rogers, Steve Nass, John Molinaro, Gregory Torres, August Lehmann, Carlton Zentner and Jim Mode.

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Nass said that when county officials have been forced to pare down items such as a 911 center that will serve all people in the county, he found it difficult to approve of a horse arena that some people might say only served a certain percentage of the county's residents. He also said that spending taxpayer dollars on an arena at this point in time might not be an ethical action in light of the fact the Jefferson County Finance Committee has been forced to deal with making cuts to the support of the county's indigent population.

Wiedenhoeft also said the county could likely double its income at the fair park with the addition of a horse arena. He noted that a marketing person who was proposed for hire to accompany the operation of the arena could bring in such events as trade shows and other events.

“The economic effects of this would mean jobs and county businesses making money,” Wiedenhoeft said.

“I think we ought to try to operate what we have and do it right,” Buchanan said before the vote was taken. “This is discretionary and I sympathize with the fair committee, but I will not support this.”

Other members of the board said their constituents had contacted them and none were in favor of adding a new arena at the fair park at this time.

“We've spent a lot of money at the fair park and I have no assurance that this will get us where we want to be,” Munyon said. “We've tried to scale back everywhere and although the fair park is important, it's not something that is mandated. There are too many unanswered questions, so I believe that, in all fairness to taxpayers, that we shouldn't jump into this at the present time.”

After a short break, the board returned, and with no debate unanimously approved a resolution calling for the creation of a 911 dispatch center at the sheriff's department. County officials spent considerable time in recent years debating where the county should locate such a center, but on Tuesday the board agreed to an Infrastructure Committee recommendation that Bachmann Construction Co., Inc. of Madison should be hired to conduct the work at a cost of $123,950. As part of the resolution, a total of $516,550 will be transferred from a Designated 911 Center Project General Fund Account to another to fund the remodeling, necessary equipment data wiring and project contingency.

The county board also agreed to allow its fair park committee to expand from three to five members.

At the beginning of the meeting, Jefferson County Sheriff Paul Milbrath recognized several members of the Jefferson County Highway Department staff for their efforts at the scene of a serious car crash March 26. Milbrath said the efforts of Brian Mattke, Timm Punzel, Jim Krause, Curt Pagenkopf and Tim Ball may have helped save the life of an accident victim who was trapped in a car following the crash at county Highways D and Y. The men used pry bars to help extricate a female victim who was trapped in her vehicle following the crash.