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2013 county budget approved
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   A public hearing on the proposed Lafayette County budget for 2013 took place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13 immediately followed by the regular board of supervisors meeting at the Lafayette County Courthouse.
    Leon Wolfe, supervisor representative for district 4, made a motion to amend the 2013 budget to increase the monetary amount allocated to the land conservation area of the budget by $12,000. Wolfe’s reasoning behind this was that there was an insurance increase for an employee that did not show up on the 2012 budget even though it was actually a part of the budget. The employee took the insurance after the 2012 budget was already set, which is why it did not show up. As a result of a vote on the amendment, the motion failed. The 2013 budget was then passed by the board as is.
    The board also passed multiple resolutions during the meeting, including:
    Resolution 20-12 dealing with revisions to Lafayette county ATV ordinance routes. The designated areas for an all-terrain vehicle route will now include: County Highway K from West Riverside Rd. to Riverside Rd., County Highway Z from Woods Branch Rd. to County Highway O, County Highway N from County Highway G to County Highway F and County Highway F from Furnace Hill Rd. to Hirsbrunner Rd.;
    Resolution 21-12 which authorized the 2012 levy to be collected in 2013 and approved the 2013 budget;
    Resolution 22-12 through which the salaries/wages for the department heads and administrative/non-union personnel of the county will receive a 1 percent increase effective Jan. 1, 2013. In addition to all normal Lafayette County compensation related benefits, persons who have worked seven years or more will receive a 4 percent increase in longevity pay on base salary/wage, and eligible RN’s and LPN’s employed at the hospital receiving certain eligible certifications will be compensated at the rate of $.25 per hour per certificate, limited to an additional $1.50 per hour, and that Manor LPN’s that have blood draw certificates will receive an additional $.50 per hour;
    Resolution 23-12 which combined the two positions of Lafayette Manor administrator and Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County administrator into a single position;
    Resolution 24-12 regarding setting the salary of the interim administrator for the hospital and manor at $130,000 effective since Sep. 1, 2012;
    Resolution 25-12 through which a new position of medication aide/tech was created at the Lafayette Manor and that the position of clinical care coordinator will be discontinued;
    Resolution 26-12 stating that the finance office should continue to not withhold Wisconsin retirement systems (WRS) contributions from the salaries of the elected sheriff and the elected clerk of courts through Dec. 31, 2013, for the incumbents currently holding those two offices.
    The board also did a first reading of the Lafayette County Ethics ordinance and resolution 27-12 which would create an additional county board rule that would allow, through a vote, the exclusion of a supervisor from the closed session of a meeting where that supervisor has a conflict of interest of a business, financial, personal or family nature in regards to a subject being discussed in the closed session.
    The proposed rule also states that “all elected members of the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors may attend any meeting of any committee, whether a standing member of that committee or not and whether the meeting is open or closed. Except as otherwise provided for by the Lafayette County Board rule, a member attending the meeting of a committee of which that Supervisor is not a member shall be considered a guest and is not entitled to speak or vote on any issue before the committee.”
    According to the proposed rule in order to exclude a supervisor from the closed session of any meeting, the committee must vote on the exclusion prior to the committee actually entering a closed session. The outcome will be decided by a simple majority of the committee members present.
    The Lafayette County Ethics ordinance and resolution 27-12 will be again brought up at the December meeting during which the resolution will be voted on. The meeting will take place on Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m.