County administration reviews a new code of ethics; discusses donation of land

Oct. 11—EAU CLAIRE — Eau Claire County is taking the next steps toward the creation of the proposed independent ethics commission.

The Eau Claire County Committee on Administration reviewed the first draft of a newly created code of ethics for County Board Supervisors and employees.

Eau Claire County Corporation Counsel Sharon McIlquham said the draft is compiled of information from the city of Madison, other counties and Eau Claire County Code.

County Board Supervisor Katherine Schneider approached county administration earlier this year regarding a board member/employee interaction policy. The push for action was reaffirmed when County Board Chair Nick Smiar expressed a desire to create a code of ethics that was more extensive than the general Eau Claire County code.

County Administrator Kathryn Schauf noted the code of ethics is a piece of the puzzle that could lead to the creation of an independent ethics commission.

"The work that's being done now is to pull all of these desires and pieces to create that code of conduct... code of ethics that then gives the guidance to everyone so that they understand what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable," Schauf said. "Then from there, part two is creating that ethics commission with an objective third-party that can take concerns."

Smiar emphasized his desire to create a code of ethics before pursuing the creation of the ethics commission.

"I'm not willing to move forward with an ethics commission resolution until we have an ethics code, because that is the basis for the commission's work," Smiar told the Leader-Telegram earlier this week. "I'm not trying to block an ethics commission at all, I think it's a great idea."

In its proposed state, the ethics commission would receive a complaint or concern, deliberate and recommend disciplinary action to the board.

The code of ethics draft remains in the early stages and will continue to be edited as the committee sees fit.

Other business

The committee also reviewed a resolution authorizing entering an agreement to accept a donation of land.

The Eau Claire County Land Stewardship Committee has been working in collaboration with Taylor Creek Development, Eau Claire Sand and Gravel, and Mathy Construction regarding their intent to make a donation of land to Eau Claire County

Former Eau Claire County Supervisor and Land Stewardship committee member Kevin Stelljes informed the Committee on Administration that the property is an abandoned and reclaimed gravel pit located south of the Eau Claire city limits.

The donation, composed of 243 acres of wood lots, waterfront and exhausted work sites, consists of 16 different land parcels. The property resides along the Chippewa River and is adjacent to the Chippewa Trail.

The property was evaluated to ensure that it would be valuable to the public, would not contain any environmental hazards and that the property value would not be disputed.

Stelljes estimates that the donation would amount to about $6,500 in property tax revenue losses. He also recommended creating a committee to evaluate the different ways the county could use the land.

"Give (the committee) a year to come back with two recommendations, what we should do with it and who should manage it," Stelljes said. "There's a whole myriad of things we could do with it."

The committee would consist of representatives from Land Conservation, Land Stewardship, Parks and Forest, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as well as interested landowners.

The resolution to accept the donation is expected to be brought to the board for consideration at its meeting next week.