[0:00] So, uh, today is August 27th. Have we

[0:03] started recording yet? We started

[0:05] recording. This is the planning

[0:07] committee of Ashlin County, Wisconsin.

[0:10] Today is Wednesday, August 27th. It's 1

[0:13] p.m. And this is the beginning of the

[0:16] planning committee meeting. And to begin

[0:18] the meeting, we'd ask the role to be

[0:21] called.

[0:22] Now, one reminder, please. First, please

[0:25] everybody speak into your microphones up

[0:28] front, not sitting way back here because

[0:31] it helps a lot for people to able to

[0:32] hear and it helps the recording because

[0:34] when we go to do the playback on

[0:36] recording, if people's voices are way

[0:38] back here, it's hard to hear. Okay,

[0:41] thank you.

[0:42] >> George Buset

[0:43] >> here.

[0:44] >> Bradley Ray is excused. Elizabeth

[0:46] Franic.

[0:50] online.

[0:55] Okay. Uh Pat Kenny

[0:57] >> here.

[0:58] >> Gary Mertik

[0:58] >> here.

[0:59] >> Dan Grady is excused. Lisa Radkkey.

[1:02] Charlie Ortman

[1:03] >> here.

[1:04] >> Paul Wilharm

[1:05] >> here.

[1:06] >> Thank you.

[1:08] >> Okay. So it appears we do have a quorum.

[1:11] That's seven of our nine committee

[1:12] members here. So the next item is to

[1:15] approve the agenda.

[1:18] Is there motion to approve? And once we

[1:22] get a motion, we can have discussion. Is

[1:24] there a motion to approve the agenda?

[1:27] >> I'll move to approve the agenda.

[1:29] >> Mr. Ortman moves to approve.

[1:35] » I'll second.

[1:36] >> Mr. Wilharm seconds to approve the

[1:39] agenda. Is there discussion on the

[1:41] agenda?

[1:43] Hearing no discussion, we vote on the

[1:45] agenda. All those in favor of accepting

[1:47] the agenda say I.

[1:48] >> I.

[1:49] >> Any opposed. So the agenda is approved.

[1:54] So we'll move on to item number three on

[1:56] the agenda which is for public comments

[1:59] and we are open now for public comments

[2:02] either online or in present. I see no

[2:04] persons present for public comment.

[2:06] We're asking to hear if there's anybody

[2:08] online for public comment. Do we see any

[2:11] telephone numbers or uh not seeing any

[2:14] public online or present uh we'll move

[2:17] we'll leave public comment at this time

[2:20] and move on to approval of the prior

[2:22] meeting minutes.

[2:24] Do I hear a motion for approval of the

[2:27] prior hearing minutes?

[2:28] >> Move to approve.

[2:30] >> Mr. Ortman moves to approve the prior

[2:31] meeting minutes was uh July 21st. Is

[2:34] there a second please?

[2:38] » Wilharm will second. Mr. Wilharm

[2:40] seconds. Is there discussion?

[2:44] Being no discussion, we will vote. All

[2:46] those in favor of approving the minutes

[2:47] as presented, say I.

[2:49] >> I.

[2:49] >> Any opposed?

[2:50] >> I

[2:51] >> abstensions.

[2:53] Um minutes are approved. Moving on to

[2:56] item number five in our agenda. We are

[2:58] now up to discussion items. Item 5A is

[3:02] little fun facts or favorite things

[3:03] about Ashlin County. Uh we'll go around

[3:05] the room starting with Mr. Kenny. Any

[3:09] fun facts of today?

[3:15] Microphone, please.

[3:18] I don't have any fun facts today,

[3:22] Lissa.

[3:24] >> Of course, I have fun facts. Um,

[3:28] there's a great newspaper artic or an

[3:30] article in the Glidden newspaper. Um,

[3:33] Wisconsin State Park campground is rated

[3:35] one of the best in the United States.

[3:37] Any guesses?

[3:40] Copper Falls is number 10 best campsite

[3:44] in the United States according to a

[3:46] national camping magazine and third best

[3:49] campgrounds in the Midwest by another

[3:52] Campground magazine. So, I thought that

[3:55] was cool. And then I'll pass this

[3:56] picture around. It's just kind of fun.

[3:58] It's um from 1973.

[4:01] It is Deputies of Ashlin County

[4:04] officials are sworn into official

[4:05] duties. Apparently, I think it's the

[4:07] county board. It used to be called

[4:08] Ashlin County Deputies 1973. I don't

[4:11] know if that rings any bells, but I

[4:13] thought I'd just pass that around. It's

[4:15] fun. Maybe we know some of the people in

[4:17] that picture who are representing the

[4:19] county what, 50 years ago.

[4:26] » Anybody else for fun facts? Mr. Murd?

[4:30] No.

[4:50] Mr. Wilharm, any fun facts?

[4:53] >> I'll I'll work on some for next time.

[4:57] >> Erica, anything?

[4:59] >> Sorry, I only have scary facts in my

[5:01] brain today. M.

[5:03] >> Mr. Ortman,

[5:06] >> my father used to run an engine on the

[5:08] top of the ordo when the carry mine was

[5:10] open in uh Ironwood area.

[5:14] and I think it's the one that's sitting

[5:16] in the

[5:18] across from the old depot.

[5:21] Yeah,

[5:22] pretty cool. Thank you.

[5:25] Autumn or Emily, you have anything to

[5:26] say that's fun about Ashlin County? No.

[5:29] Oh, you got to work on that. Uh,

[5:34] you have anything to offer?

[5:36] You know, you can't Oh, go. Uh so I work

[5:42] also in the zoning department and we

[5:45] have issued the annual permit for the

[5:48] northern aged iron uh annual event that

[5:51] happens every year out in hybrbridge and

[5:54] Lynn Brenamman told me that Discover

[5:57] Wisconsin has contacted them and we'll

[6:00] be doing another uniquely um Wisconsin

[6:03] video at their event. And so just keep

[6:07] promoting Ashlin County,

[6:11] » okay?

[6:12] I have, you know, you don't know whether

[6:14] you can trust what you do on online

[6:16] research these days because, you know,

[6:18] the AI summaries could tell you anything

[6:20] that might or may not be true, but uh

[6:22] this claims to be a documented from the

[6:24] Library of Congress uh dated January

[6:27] 1937.

[6:30] And it says that um it's from the

[6:32] narrative of Mr. Leonard. Mr. Leonard

[6:34] worked for the warehouser lumber company

[6:35] and managed log drives for them. He said

[6:39] following break up of the ice in the

[6:41] lakes and rivers when sufficient water

[6:44] was in the dams the drive would start.

[6:49] The camps and independent loggers inland

[6:52] along the tributaries of the main

[6:54] waterways would blast and peeve the logs

[6:57] from the rollways into the water and

[7:00] drive to the main lake or stream. Upon

[7:04] reaching Clam Lake or the West Fork of

[7:07] the Chipa River, all logs were turned

[7:10] over to the Chipoa Lumber and Boom

[7:13] Company Corporation, the warehouser

[7:16] corporation. The corporate drive on the

[7:19] west fork covered about 160 miles from

[7:23] Clam Lake to Flambo farm. From this

[7:27] point, many logs went on rafts to

[7:29] Lacrosse, Wisconsin, Winona, Minnesota,

[7:33] Clinton, and Deuke, Iowa.

[7:36] So, that's part of the history of that

[7:38] southwestern corner of Ashlin County.

[7:41] And uh this is a story that I maybe I'll

[7:43] bring up next time. Does anybody know

[7:45] what a wanigan is?

[7:48] A wanigan

[7:49] was a raft built of logs to go down

[7:53] river with the with the drive. And they

[7:55] were usually about 60 ft long and 18 ft

[7:58] wide. You put a cook shack on one and a

[8:00] tent shack on another. And this was like

[8:03] the the floating living quarters for the

[8:05] loggers that drove the logs downstream.

[8:07] So that's my fun fact for today. Any

[8:10] more fun facts?

[8:15] Thanks to artificial intelligence. Yes.

[8:17] Okay. So, going on beyond we move on to

[8:20] item 5B which is the working status of

[8:23] the Northwest Regional Planning

[8:25] Corporation to work with us. And these

[8:28] are the items uh requested by by Emily

[8:31] Nelson who we have the pleasure of

[8:32] having with us. So, for this part of the

[8:34] meeting, I'm turning this over to Emily

[8:36] and letting you proceed with uh what you

[8:39] have to tell us.

[8:40] >> Thank you. I'll start with an

[8:41] introduction. Emily now Boucher as of

[8:44] two weeks ago

[8:46] um a community development specialist

[8:48] with Northwest Regional Planning. I've

[8:50] been there for about six years and then

[8:52] with me today I have

[8:56] I'm Autumn Tommy. I'm the assistant

[8:58] planner at Northwest Regional Planning.

[9:00] So I've been there in total just over

[9:04] two years as in my position about six to

[9:07] seven months.

[9:11] And I will

[9:13] looks like my screen is sharing. But I

[9:16] wanted to begin by recognizing all the

[9:19] work that this committee has done

[9:20] already in preparing for the

[9:24] comprehensive plan update process. And

[9:26] the update is a little bit different

[9:28] than creating the original plan. The

[9:30] most extensive work was done in 2006

[9:33] uh with and then with the 2016 update uh

[9:38] serving as a refinement to that 2006

[9:40] plan and now we're focusing on carrying

[9:43] that work forward and ensuring that the

[9:46] plan continues to serve as a useful

[9:48] guide for decision-making in the county.

[9:50] And since this is Northwest Regional

[9:52] Planning's first in-person facilitated

[9:55] meeting with the county, um I'd like to

[9:57] start with an overview of the planning

[9:59] process. Some of you saw this earlier

[10:03] um as part of a county board meeting uh

[10:07] this winter, but today we'll make sure

[10:09] everyone is starting from the same

[10:10] place. We'll walk through the update

[10:13] process and some of the protocols for

[10:16] that, a review of the timeline that we

[10:18] have, and then to clarify the

[10:20] committee's role and responsibilities

[10:22] moving forward in the plan update.

[10:28] So, Wisconsin statute 6610001

[10:31] is the Wisconsin comprehensive planning

[10:33] law. It provides the framework for

[10:35] comprehensive planning in the state of

[10:37] Wisconsin.

[10:38] It requires communities to adopt a plan

[10:41] that looks ahead 20 years and it is

[10:44] defined as a guide to the physical,

[10:45] social and economic development of the

[10:48] county with an outlook of 20 years. The

[10:52] statute also emphasizes implementation

[10:56] meaning the plan has to include programs

[10:58] and actions with measurable outcomes

[11:00] within it. And then to remain effective

[11:02] and legally compliant,

[11:04] uh the plan has to be updated at least

[11:06] once every 10 years. So that's why this

[11:09] update is so important. It ensures that

[11:12] the plan continues to be meaningful and

[11:15] legally supported as a guide for the

[11:18] county's decision-m

[11:23] and then Wisconsin's. Yes,

[11:26] >> this committee is a standing committee

[11:29] as opposed to an ad hoc. Now on that

[11:31] previous screen with updating every 10

[11:33] years one of the questions I have as we

[11:36] go through this planning process what

[11:38] constitutes the plan having been updated

[11:40] so let's say 3 years from now there's a

[11:42] major issue that comes up we come back

[11:44] to the comp plan a bit is there a

[11:46] certain criteria level that's

[11:49] >> that constitutes having been updated

[11:52] >> within the statutes there's nothing that

[11:53] defines what an update is but at minimum

[11:56] it must include the public participation

[11:59] plan adoption

[12:00] and then um the 30-day public comment

[12:03] period as well as the public hearing and

[12:06] then the resolution by this committee

[12:10] and then that would go to the county

[12:12] board for um adoption of an updated

[12:16] ordinance on the comprehensive plan. So

[12:18] there's a protocol but not so much as

[12:20] what the content revisions have to

[12:22] include.

[12:24] >> Okay. Thank you.

[12:25] >> You're welcome.

[12:29] So, does that mean at some point the

[12:32] board couldn't decide to modify a

[12:34] chapter or something?

[12:36] >> Yes.

[12:36] >> Without without a public hearing and all

[12:38] that or could we have that done?

[12:41] >> It is not complete until that formal

[12:44] public participation process. But we we

[12:47] could change it and live by it. And

[12:49] >> yes, it's a living document that could

[12:51] be continuously modified and should be

[12:53] reviewed continuously and used

[12:57] frequently.

[12:58] >> But at least at 10 years, we would have

[12:59] to get that looked at by everybody and

[13:02] get their feedback on any changes we had

[13:04] made prior to the

[13:05] >> importance of that is that it then would

[13:08] remain a legally defensible plan.

[13:11] >> Thank you.

[13:16] Uh just adding to Charlie's comment, it

[13:19] occurs to me that is u that the planning

[13:22] committee can recommend to the county

[13:25] board subsidiary planning activities

[13:28] within the context of the standing

[13:32] comprehensive plan without altering the

[13:34] comprehensive plan. In other words,

[13:36] there's nothing to prevent a planning

[13:38] committee from planning other things

[13:40] that are fit within the context of the

[13:42] overall plan. So if there's a specific

[13:44] action that someone wants to bring

[13:46] forward three years down the line and it

[13:49] fits within the context of the plan,

[13:51] then it can be brought forward to the

[13:52] county board without revising the plan

[13:55] per se.

[13:57] >> Think you can change it actually. This

[14:00] just a change that would have to be

[14:02] viewed by the public. Yes. 10 years.

[14:04] >> Yep.

[14:06] >> Or however frequent or often changes

[14:09] should be made or would like to be made.

[14:15] Okay, just so I'm clear.

[14:17] >> Yes.

[14:17] >> Uh, microphone, please.

[14:20] >> Sorry. So, just so I'm clear, we go

[14:23] through all this and then we get it

[14:24] approved and Dad Cap signs off on it and

[14:27] then two years from now and we make

[14:28] significant changes to a different

[14:30] chapter, we put them in ourselves and we

[14:32] live by them. That's okay. But we got to

[14:35] present that. We could at any time

[14:38] present that for official

[14:41] but we have to do it at least in 10

[14:43] years. Yes. But we can we can modify it

[14:45] any way we like within that time frame

[14:47] and live by it.

[14:48] >> Correct.

[14:48] >> And it's still official.

[14:50] >> Then that cap has the responsibility for

[14:52] the farmland preservation plan part of

[14:54] the comprehensive plan. And then the

[14:56] comprehensive plan itself, the Wisconsin

[15:00] Department of Administration

[15:02] only requires that every time that the

[15:04] plan is updated that the ordinance

[15:07] and the adoption date be provided to

[15:11] Wisconsin Department of Administration

[15:13] so they're aware of it.

[15:14] >> Okay.

[15:15] >> And they keep a database of all of the

[15:18] um adopted plans in the whole state.

[15:20] >> That's amazing.

[15:22] >> I guess we need further discussion a

[15:24] little bit. It's my understanding of the

[15:27] statute that counties are required to

[15:30] act consistent with their comprehensive

[15:33] plan

[15:34] uh with possibility for some exceptions

[15:36] that are can be justified. So if there

[15:41] were some kind of update that was

[15:43] inconsistent with the plan,

[15:46] then that would be out of bounds unless

[15:49] it was a special situation and therefore

[15:52] you would have to go through a public

[15:54] hearing process to update your plan.

[15:58] But you could have planning actions

[16:01] subsidiary to the exist the plan to the

[16:03] comprehensive plan. just everyday

[16:05] planning action that is as long as it's

[16:08] consistent with the overall

[16:10] comprehensive plan, then it's fine. You

[16:13] don't have to change anything in your

[16:14] comprehensive plan. But it could be a

[16:17] detail, an action item, a goal that is

[16:20] consistent with your comprehensive plan

[16:22] that you hadn't thought of earlier and

[16:24] you can go ahead and move on that

[16:26] without changing your comprehensive

[16:28] plan. But if you want to change a major

[16:31] principle of a comprehensive plan, then

[16:33] you would have to go through a public

[16:35] hearing process.

[16:38] » Any other questions?

[16:45] And then taking a look at the content of

[16:48] the comprehensive plan, the

[16:50] comprehensive planning law, that's

[16:52] chapter 6610001,

[16:55] requires that every comprehensive plan

[16:57] covers at least nine topics which the

[16:59] statutes refers to as elements and it

[17:02] also specifies what needs to be included

[17:04] in each of those elements. So the first

[17:07] element typically in a comprehensive

[17:08] plan I think that Ashlin counties is a

[17:10] little different and put this at the end

[17:12] of the document currently is the issues

[17:14] and opportunities which serves as the

[17:17] introduction to the plan. It's meant to

[17:19] be the community demographics talking

[17:21] about um key trends along with

[17:24] projections for things like population,

[17:27] household

[17:29] and

[17:30] uh land use.

[17:34] And the second element is housing. It

[17:36] looks at existing and projected housing

[17:38] needs and trends in the county. The

[17:40] third element being transportation

[17:42] looking at anything transportation

[17:44] related any of the different modes of

[17:46] transportation as well as other sort of

[17:49] planning documents related to

[17:51] transportation that exist in the state.

[17:55] And then utilities and community

[17:57] facilities that describes the

[17:58] infrastructure and the services that

[18:00] support the residents of the county.

[18:02] things like sewer and water, storm

[18:04] water, schools, parks, um emergency

[18:08] services.

[18:10] The fifth element, agricultural,

[18:12] natural, and cultural resources that

[18:14] focuses on the county's physical and

[18:16] environmental assets

[18:19] as well as the cultural heritage. And in

[18:22] a lot of cases, these can overlap. So

[18:24] resource might be both natural and

[18:26] cultural in the county. And that

[18:29] probably occurs a lot in Ashlin County.

[18:32] The sixth element is economic

[18:34] development that looks at existing

[18:36] conditions and strategies to support

[18:38] businesses, the labor force, jobs, a

[18:41] healthy economy. And then the seventh

[18:43] element, intergovernmental cooperation

[18:46] that highlights the importance of

[18:48] coordinating with other jurisdictions,

[18:51] neighboring counties, tribal

[18:53] governments, school districts, and state

[18:55] and federal agencies.

[18:57] And then we have the land use element

[18:59] that describes current land use

[19:01] patterns. So that there's an existing

[19:03] land use map of what's currently

[19:05] happening today. And then a guide where

[19:07] and how the future growth and

[19:09] development of the county should occur.

[19:11] And that includes a future land use map.

[19:14] Looking 20 years into the future, what

[19:16] sort of land use do you want in Ashlin

[19:18] County?

[19:20] And then implementation.

[19:23] It identifies the programs and actions

[19:26] needed to carry out the plan along with

[19:28] any of those measurable steps to track

[19:30] the progress of the plan within its

[19:33] 10-year lifespan.

[19:36] So together, these nine elements create

[19:39] a comprehensive plan framework to guide

[19:41] the county decision-making over that

[19:43] 20-year period. So it's a plan written

[19:46] with a 20-year outlook with a

[19:47] requirement of being updated at least

[19:49] once every 10 years.

[19:54] And then as George was talking about the

[19:56] consistency requirement. So the

[19:59] comprehensive plan is an advisory

[20:01] document but it still carries legal

[20:03] significance.

[20:06] And the statute states that beginning

[20:08] January 1 of 2010 any new or amended

[20:11] zoning land division or official mapping

[20:14] ordinances have to be consistent with an

[20:16] adopted comprehensive plan. and the

[20:19] statutes defined consistent with to mean

[20:22] the ordinance furthers or at least does

[20:24] not contradict

[20:26] the plan's goals and policies.

[20:28] So the comprehensive plan by clearly

[20:31] documenting community priorities

[20:35] um it helps to strengthen the legal

[20:38] defensibility of the land use ordinances

[20:40] that are within Ashlin County and it

[20:42] ensures that future development in the

[20:44] county aligns with the county's vision.

[20:51] And again the the comprehensive plan is

[20:53] adopted by ordinance

[20:55] but it's in itself it's not a

[20:58] regulation.

[20:59] Instead it serves as a guiding document

[21:01] that provides a rational basis for

[21:04] legally defensible land use decisions.

[21:07] And an example would be that if a

[21:10] property owner requests to reszone um

[21:14] farmland for a housing development, the

[21:17] plan, the comprehensive plan for Ashlin

[21:19] County helps the county determine

[21:21] whether that change would align with

[21:23] community goals and ensures that that

[21:25] decision is made in a consistent and

[21:28] defensible way. Yep. I'm going to ask a

[21:32] question and I really want to just leave

[21:33] it as a question and not go off into a

[21:36] long discussion on this topic as Charlie

[21:38] and I and some others would. I'm on the

[21:40] zoning committee for the county also and

[21:42] Charlie are are on the farmland

[21:43] preservation committee. We had a meeting

[21:45] yesterday as Autumn knows and we talked

[21:47] about the spreading of human septic and

[21:50] the lack of information that we know. We

[21:53] think we can be informed of a dot on a

[21:57] map of every um square mile or section.

[22:01] I think both terms were used. A section

[22:03] is, you know, a mile by a mile. Um and

[22:06] so as I think about housing and I think

[22:09] about in Bayfield County, land I own

[22:11] just a bit over a quarter mile east is

[22:13] one of the bigger sites where this stuff

[22:15] is spread. Thankfully, the wind is

[22:17] usually blowing from my place to theirs

[22:19] so I don't have to deal with it um

[22:20] except occasionally. But if we think

[22:23] about zoning and housing and PAS in that

[22:27] septic, and I understand why the

[22:31] government doesn't want to tell you

[22:32] exactly who's fighting what where

[22:34] because of the complaints because we

[22:35] went through that 20 years ago when that

[22:37] started in our neck of the woods. So I

[22:38] understand the government not wanting to

[22:39] tell that. But I also think about as we

[22:41] do zoning and people wanting to drill

[22:44] wells, raise a garden vegetable. So we

[22:47] know the PAS comes up into you know

[22:49] plants it can bioaccumulate including in

[22:52] the hay. My so my question is and this

[22:54] is just to take back and for a later

[22:56] date is how do we make an informed

[22:59] decision about the risks of the land

[23:03] that we might designate for housing or

[23:05] housing developments so that as a county

[23:10] we're doing the best we can to help

[23:12] people understand

[23:14] the property on which they might be

[23:16] living or building and so that someone

[23:19] doesn't later say well I wish I would

[23:21] have known and who do I blame and who do

[23:23] I why sue and so that's the question I

[23:25] have um Jason yesterday with our meeting

[23:28] in autumn you can talk to Autumn on the

[23:29] way back if they wrote together. Um I

[23:32] think it's becoming a more important

[23:34] question and I don't know from a zoning

[23:35] perspective how we wrestle with that.

[23:41] I think good to think about both as a

[23:44] full committee but also good for

[23:45] Northwest Regional Planning to think

[23:47] about as someone on the outside

[23:49] facilitating the process.

[23:54] Can I ask a quick um question? Is is

[23:56] there something then in mapping like an

[23:58] overlay that would map out where land

[24:02] was that was spread? Is that something

[24:04] that you would put in your land um

[24:07] mapping and land use chapter?

[24:10] you want?

[24:11] >> Well, I'll say it so she doesn't have

[24:13] to. Um, we have there's dots on the map,

[24:18] but they are not specific enough so that

[24:20] we know which property it's on. We don't

[24:22] have history. We don't have if it's

[24:24] actively used or not. And so like I'll

[24:28] say Bayfield County, I'll take it out of

[24:30] Ashlin County, my property, a dot on the

[24:32] map there, um it would not delineate

[24:35] between where it's being spread a bit

[24:38] over a quarter mile east of me, nor my

[24:40] property. And so if I were looking for

[24:43] property to build on, and trust me, I

[24:45] get people that ask me if I'm ready to

[24:47] sell. Um I think people want to know the

[24:51] history of what's there. But if so, if I did want to sell at some point and

[24:55] this map shows that there's something

[24:57] being spread potentially there, I also

[25:00] want to be able to tell people no,

[25:02] there's not. That map is not precise

[25:06] enough. So, they just won't give us that

[25:08] history because it's a permitted use and

[25:12] for whatever reason, I think they just

[25:14] don't want push back from the public.

[25:15] It's not information that they share

[25:17] with the public, which surprises me

[25:19] because I would really like to know the

[25:21] history of what land has been permitted

[25:24] and they track the records and the usage

[25:26] there just so people when they buy and

[25:28] sell land and think about putting in a

[25:30] house, raising a garden. Um, I would not

[25:33] want to raise a garden in soil where

[25:36] there's a history of spreading that,

[25:37] especially in the era of

[25:39] pharmaceuticals, you know, stuff that's

[25:41] not breaking down. I wouldn't want to

[25:43] raise a garden there. And yet people are

[25:45] putting in gardens in places and they

[25:48] don't know that history. And I it might

[25:51] be a Wisconsin legislature issue that

[25:54] somebody has to bring forward to them.

[25:56] Um but locally, no, we can't get that

[25:58] information is our understanding at this

[26:00] point.

[26:03] Darling,

[26:05] >> I'm pretty sure it would have to be

[26:07] released for the Freedom of Information

[26:09] Act request, but just on the face of it,

[26:13] for the reasons Pat stated and now that

[26:15] we can see the other issues, not just

[26:17] farmers, but we need to know that stuff.

[26:19] We need a profile of all the pollution,

[26:22] potential pollution, and we need to know

[26:25] how far it's spread off. Just cuz it's

[26:27] in one spot, we need to know that exact

[26:29] spot. And then we need to be able to

[26:30] test to see where if it is polluted,

[26:33] it's stopped. What are the boundaries?

[26:34] And right now it's there's no push to

[26:38] when we ask we get no no not now. And then the rather large X they give us

[26:46] for a for a spot and there's over

[26:48] there's a hundred plus of them just in

[26:50] this count. So I might do an FOIA just

[26:54] >> FYI. So this raises a question, right?

[26:57] So, this is for future consideration.

[26:59] And I think we've got the question.

[27:00] Maybe we could carry on.

[27:02] >> That sounds good. I just have one quick

[27:04] question. This is where county comp

[27:07] plans always um sort of confuse me. So,

[27:10] the last slide is um the comp plan does

[27:14] not have the same rule of law, so to

[27:17] speak, as an ordinance. But um Bayfield

[27:20] County just went through the sighting of

[27:22] a cell tower which in their plan comp

[27:25] plan said we don't want such things

[27:28] because of aesthetics and egg

[27:30] >> aesthetics and that kind of thing but

[27:31] the tower went in. So it's how how do

[27:34] how are decisions made that might go

[27:36] against a comp plan? They just like an

[27:38] overrule of

[27:40] >> Yeah. So if a sounds like it was not

[27:43] consistent with the comprehensive plan

[27:45] for that decision, but if there were no one came forward with any um legal

[27:53] issues related to that um it moved

[27:56] forward.

[27:58] >> Point of information, I hope I'm not

[28:01] remembering this incorrectly, but I

[28:02] believe the uh the last comprehensive

[28:05] plan was adopted as an ordinance, which

[28:08] is kind of interesting point of view,

[28:09] isn't it? Yep.

[28:10] A comprehensive plan is adopted by

[28:13] ordinance by the governing body. So that

[28:15] would be the county board.

[28:18] >> That would make the count county plan

[28:21] comprehensive plan the law under the

[28:23] ordinance.

[28:24] >> Sorry, I thought that last slide said my

[28:27] not compreh comprehensive plan does not

[28:29] equal an ordinance on your last

[28:32] >> not in and of itself, but it is adopted

[28:34] by ordinance.

[28:36] >> adopted by an ordinance.

[28:37] >> Yes. in itself it's an advisory document

[28:41] and then the legal standing comes from

[28:43] this consistency requirement for

[28:45] anything land use related.

[28:48] >> So that's the key word the consistency.

[28:51] >> Mhm.

[28:51] >> Okay.

[28:52] >> And then there's also that same

[28:53] consistency with the farmland

[28:55] preservation plan and the comprehensive

[28:57] plan

[29:00] » on the cell tower. It's similar to say a

[29:03] gravel pit or spreading septic. There's

[29:06] it's a permitted process that's legal

[29:10] and if you go through the process, you

[29:13] get your permit. So whether people want

[29:15] the cell tower or not, the state has a

[29:18] process where you can get a permit for

[29:20] that. So you can't be more restrictive

[29:21] than state or federal law. So for

[29:24] example, if a township says, "Nope, we

[29:25] don't want human septic spread in our

[29:27] township." Well, if you meet the

[29:30] requirements for the DNR through the

[29:32] permitting process, you can spread. And

[29:35] same with gravel pits and other things

[29:37] like that. And so, as we go through this

[29:39] comp plan, it's really helpful um to the

[29:42] extent that we can be be aware of where

[29:46] what our limits are on what we can

[29:48] restrict because it might be, oh, we

[29:51] don't want this, that, or the other. But

[29:52] guess what? if it's um allowed and

[29:55] there's a permitting process, the best

[29:57] we can do is say like with the kayo is

[29:59] say, okay, townships can still have

[30:02] weight limits, you know, so you can't

[30:04] haul loads that are too heavy in the

[30:05] spring and wreck your road. So townships

[30:07] can do that because that is allowed to

[30:09] have weight limits, but there's other

[30:10] things that you, you know, you just

[30:12] can't control. So

[30:15] >> important to remember.

[30:17] >> Yeah. And cell towers fell into what

[30:19] happened there. There were people that

[30:21] were concerned, but

[30:22] >> yeah, I've seen that a lot in smaller

[30:25] towns with the recent expansion of

[30:27] Dollar Generals around. Towns don't

[30:30] necessarily want to have that kind of

[30:32] development, but they follow the process

[30:35] to do so.

[30:40] And then back to the presentation, the

[30:43] public participation plan.

[30:48] This is something that is a formal

[30:51] document that's required by the

[30:52] comprehensive planning law.

[30:55] And to meet that requirement, the county

[30:57] board approves a formal public

[30:59] participation plan which lays out how

[31:01] the community members will have

[31:04] opportunities to be involved or be part

[31:07] be um asked to participate um in the

[31:10] plan update process. And this committee,

[31:13] I know, played an important role in

[31:15] shaping that formal document, the public

[31:17] participation plan. And I understand

[31:19] that that public participation plan was

[31:22] formally adopted by the county board

[31:24] this July. And this is also a sort of

[31:27] living document that can be amended as

[31:30] we go through the planning process.

[31:37] And then the planning committee. So as

[31:40] the planning committee, you all play an

[31:41] important role in the process. You serve

[31:45] as a sounding board for any feedback on

[31:47] the plan update. You're the entity that

[31:50] helps to encourage um community

[31:53] involvement in the plan update process.

[31:55] And then you're also the reviewers of

[31:57] the draft plan materials and you share

[32:00] your comments in your local perspective

[32:01] and your local expertise.

[32:03] And then at the end of this process,

[32:06] you'll also be the entity that

[32:07] recommends the draft plan to the county

[32:10] board for approval. And then Northwest

[32:13] Regional Planning's role in this is to

[32:16] facilitate the process, provide any sort

[32:19] of technical expertise that we can, and

[32:21] then help to prepare all of the plan

[32:23] materials and make sure all of the

[32:25] statutory requirements are met for the

[32:28] update.

[32:32] and then a community survey.

[32:37] Um, as part of the scope of this plan

[32:40] update,

[32:41] it includes the opportunity for

[32:43] deploying an online public survey or

[32:46] community survey to help inform the

[32:48] comprehensive plan update. So within

[32:51] this capacity, Northwest Regional

[32:53] Planning would assist with survey

[32:55] question development. Um set up that

[32:58] survey using a platform called ARGIS

[33:01] survey 123

[33:03] and then at the end of that prepare a

[33:05] summary report to analyze those survey

[33:08] results so that we could use those

[33:10] throughout the uh plan update review.

[33:13] And then the county's role would be to

[33:15] help provide input on those survey

[33:17] questions, distribute and promote the

[33:19] survey through any of the channels

[33:22] available, website, newspaper, radio,

[33:25] and then again using those survey

[33:27] results to help guide the update. Is

[33:30] that I want to make sure that's

[33:31] something we want to do for this update.

[33:33] First of all,

[33:36] moving forward with a community survey

[33:38] because that's something we'll want to

[33:40] do right away. One of the first things

[33:42] we'll need to do is um the survey

[33:45] questions.

[33:49] » Uh if I'm recalling, I think we agreed

[33:52] at our last meeting that we would want

[33:53] to do the survey.

[33:55] >> Okay.

[33:55] >> I'm trying to remember whether I

[33:56] volunteered to help with the qu

[33:58] questions, but I don't think we have the

[33:59] questions together yet.

[34:01] >> Uh Pat,

[34:02] >> I do know that we this we can talk about

[34:04] it more in depth at um I think later on.

[34:08] there's an agenda item for the survey,

[34:10] but I do have some example survey

[34:12] questions. And then I know that there

[34:14] was a 2006 survey that I have not seen.

[34:17] So I don't know if any of those

[34:18] questions we could also use for this

[34:20] update.

[34:23] » Anybody else comments?

[34:27] Okay.

[34:30] » Are you going to use the same questions

[34:31] through each of the formats that this

[34:33] would go out in?

[34:37] is so this would be only enough capacity

[34:41] for an online community survey. So, my

[34:45] comment on this is going to be, and I

[34:47] know you guys know this, Ashlin County

[34:49] at the moment doesn't have the greatest

[34:50] of internet access throughout the whole

[34:53] county, but hopefully that's changing

[34:54] because we've got some grant money

[34:56] coming in. And so, if you do online

[35:00] only, you're going to get a heavy bias

[35:02] towards those with internet access means

[35:04] the city of Ashland voice will be louder

[35:07] than the southern part of Ashland. that

[35:09] could bring a bias into the results

[35:11] because of the rather large difference

[35:13] in internet access. So we'd want to try

[35:16] to make sure we get a representative

[35:18] >> think about

[35:19] >> example or at least the data that you

[35:21] collect if you can tell somehow where it

[35:23] comes from you know say butternut and

[35:25] glidden if there's a question that

[35:26] identifies hopefully there is where they

[35:29] live

[35:30] >> then you might wait you know because

[35:33] you're going to get fewer responses from

[35:34] some of those areas because of less

[35:36] internet access but then you wait those

[35:38] to balance out I would assume a higher

[35:41] response rate from within the city

[35:42] >> and then in some of those areas is are

[35:44] there public spaces that do have

[35:47] internet access like town halls or

[35:50] community centers or libraries that you

[35:52] could direct people to?

[35:54] >> Not not in the southern part, but what

[35:56] we could do is make sure when the survey

[35:57] goes out, we send it to the town of

[36:00] >> Yeah, that's a good idea.

[36:01] >> Then at their town meeting, they could

[36:02] bring it up and say, "Hey, does

[36:04] everybody aware that there's a survey

[36:06] out there?"

[36:08] >> Um because smaller towns, that's kind of

[36:10] the hub of information. But if we had to

[36:13] and we have all their addresses, all the

[36:15] town

[36:17] chairman and that we could send it to

[36:18] them.

[36:22] » And I would offer that extension could

[36:25] help with a hard copy version. I've

[36:29] already been doing some preliminary work

[36:31] with um seniors through different groups

[36:33] I'm working with that might not ever

[36:36] even if they have broadband might not

[36:38] access an online platform. But if we

[36:42] gave them a print copy, you know, we

[36:44] could help with the um data input

[36:48] because I know how those surveys online,

[36:50] they just start calculating responses,

[36:53] but if you got paper copies, you know,

[36:54] we could help with inputting it into the

[36:56] system somehow.

[36:58] >> Sounds like it could be a good

[37:00] progress toward a solution.

[37:16] edges of the

[37:18] 8,000 people.

[37:20] >> Can I use this microphone, please?

[37:24] >> I'm sorry. I was suggesting that we

[37:26] spend uh we look at spending the most

[37:30] trying to reach the outer edges of the

[37:32] county because the city of Ashland is is

[37:35] all coll-located and easier to reach

[37:37] through, you know, other means than the edges

[37:43] um like notices in the paper and things

[37:46] like that. So an online survey Pat was

[37:49] mentioning would would tend to skew the

[37:51] results towards Ashland City because

[37:53] we've all got internet. So take that

[37:57] money for the online you would do here

[37:59] and find other better means to reach the

[38:02] edges because it's very unlikely we

[38:06] won't get input enough input from the

[38:08] city of Ashland regardless of what we

[38:11] use. Just my thoughts. Thank you.

[38:16] Uh, so that's Liz online.

[38:19] >> Yes, I'm on the phone.

[38:21] >> Okay. Just want to make sure everybody

[38:23] knows that you're here. That's Liz

[38:24] Franic online. Okay.

[38:27] Give it back to you, Emily.

[38:29] >> Right. All good thoughts on the survey.

[38:31] We'll talk about it more, too.

[38:36] » And then the actual plan structure, the

[38:39] physical document

[38:41] is made up of three main parts. The

[38:44] first is the background report which

[38:46] examines the current and historical

[38:48] data, looks at the trends and develops

[38:50] forecasts for the future. And that's

[38:52] your volume one of your comprehensive

[38:55] plan. And then is there's the mapping

[38:58] also found in the volume one which are

[39:01] all of the maps that visually show

[39:02] resources and conditions found in the

[39:05] background report

[39:07] as well as a map representing the

[39:09] county's vision for future land use. So

[39:11] that's the future land use map. And then

[39:14] the third component that's found in your

[39:16] volume two of your comprehensive plan is

[39:20] the vision and the implementation which

[39:22] sets our goals and our objectives the

[39:25] desired future conditions for Ashlin

[39:27] County and outlines actions for

[39:29] achieving the comprehensive plans

[39:31] vision. Yes.

[39:33] >> Okay. So I have a a question on this structure. Um, it's puzzling to me

[39:41] to start out a document of this nature

[39:44] with background information. It makes

[39:47] sense from a developmental point of view

[39:49] from developing the plan. But if I'm a

[39:53] user, I'm someone who's thinking to come

[39:54] to Ashlin County from Minneapolis for

[39:56] business and I want to look into this

[39:58] plan,

[40:00] I really expect to see the vision and

[40:03] the uh the opportunities and risk and

[40:06] opportunities up front and the

[40:08] background in support of that. So is

[40:10] there a reason that we've put background

[40:13] as the first element? I don't understand

[40:15] that.

[40:15] >> As far the volume one and volume two

[40:18] that currently exist

[40:18] >> Yes. Yeah. Why why is the background

[40:20] information volume one instead of the

[40:23] vision being volume one?

[40:25] >> Is anyone who was a part of the previous

[40:28] >> from Oh, go ahead.

[40:31] >> Well, part of it was um all of that

[40:34] background data is supposed to be the

[40:36] information that drives your goals and

[40:39] objectives and actions. And so, um, the

[40:43] main reason is here's what your county

[40:47] looks like. Here's what your issues are.

[40:48] Here's what your challenges are. And

[40:50] from that, you develop your goals and

[40:53] objectives and strategies. And, correct

[40:56] me if I'm wrong, Gary, you're looking at

[40:57] it, but in the very beginning of part

[40:59] one, I thought it had the um um like

[41:04] issues and and

[41:06] trends.

[41:09] Yeah. in the first part. Um, but you

[41:13] know, I helped the town of Morris write

[41:15] an emergency operations plan and we had

[41:17] that same question. So, we just moved

[41:19] all of the actions to the very front and

[41:21] there's an emergency, you grab that

[41:23] plan, everything you need to do is right

[41:25] there. I think you could get away with

[41:28] changing the order, but really because

[41:31] they're physically separated, it seems

[41:33] like it's easy enough to find your goals

[41:36] and actions. And hopefully there's money

[41:38] somewhere to make a user-friendly

[41:40] version of just the actions, vision, and

[41:44] um objectives.

[41:54] when you were speaking

[41:56] >> you sorry when you were talking I was

[41:59] like that makes a lot of sense why

[42:01] didn't we think about it but we were

[42:02] thinking just like Lisa described so uh

[42:06] I think from a user's point of view your

[42:09] view yours it's like getting the

[42:11] executive summary last now we have it

[42:14] and and the executive summary should be

[42:16] first so if we want it to look at this

[42:18] more as a public-f facing document we

[42:20] should reorder it um for ease of

[42:23] construction. The way it was is is the

[42:26] way it was.

[42:27] >> Erica,

[42:28] >> so I think we might be thinking um a

[42:32] little too strictly about what the

[42:34] comprehensive plan is. So this is the

[42:37] formal document that meets all of the

[42:39] requirements and has all of the info.

[42:41] The way that we present that to the

[42:44] public could be completely different. uh

[42:46] as Lisa said, could consolidate, could

[42:50] forward, could minimize, right? So I I'm

[42:55] not sure what the problem is in, you

[42:59] know, version one versus version two. Um

[43:02] because nobody is going to read 300

[43:05] pages when they want a brief overview of

[43:08] Ashlin County, right? And and what our

[43:10] goals are. They're going to go right to

[43:12] what we point them to ultimately.

[43:15] So Emily, is there a reason to be one

[43:17] way or the other?

[43:19] >> I would say similar to what Lisa

[43:21] mentioned is that the background

[43:23] information is there because it is meant

[43:25] to say where you are now and then you

[43:28] have the forward thinking where you want

[43:29] to go and how will you get there is that

[43:32] second visioning and implementation

[43:34] part.

[43:37] Is there any legal constraint on how

[43:39] it's presented

[43:40] >> as far as

[43:43] um as

[43:43] >> which comes first?

[43:47] » In general, the issues and opportunities

[43:49] comes first. In most situations, there

[43:52] aren't two volumes of a plan. Usually,

[43:54] it's one plan as it is.

[43:57] Um

[44:00] >> Okay. So, let me add on to why I'm

[44:02] thinking about this. And so, this is a a

[44:05] real question for you, Emily. and and

[44:07] autumn as I've looked at the plan as we

[44:09] have it currently constructed 2016 plan

[44:13] the division of responsibilities here in

[44:16] as I'm thinking about is that the

[44:18] background data is something that we're

[44:21] looking to Northwest regional planning

[44:22] to do the update so I'm not looking to

[44:25] members of these committees to be doing

[44:27] the update for the background

[44:28] >> Northwest Regional Planning will update

[44:30] all of the current like update the

[44:32] census data um the actual factual

[44:36] information with all the public sources

[44:37] that we have and then we would provide

[44:39] that updated um draft probably to the

[44:43] usually it's the subcommittee since you

[44:45] have established subcommittees for plan

[44:48] elements to review that and provide any

[44:51] of the local expertise any updated

[44:54] studies that we might not know about any

[44:56] inner knowledge that you might have to

[44:59] then update and um make sure that fully

[45:05] represents where you want to go for this

[45:07] update.

[45:08] >> Okay. So, so that makes complete sense

[45:10] to me. We're looking basically we're

[45:11] looking to Northwest Regional Planning

[45:13] for the first draft of the update then

[45:15] to get reviewed by committees. So, then

[45:17] let me say that what I've been thinking

[45:20] as a chair of the committee is that the

[45:22] respons primary responsibility of the

[45:25] elemental subcommittees as well as

[45:27] reviewing that data when it comes

[45:29] forward is to review the vision and the

[45:33] goals and objectives. part of in other

[45:36] words

[45:36] >> yeah that's

[45:37] >> the goals and objectives part the

[45:38] forwardlooking part of the plan is the

[45:40] responsibility of the subcommittees and

[45:43] I just want to make sure that we're kind

[45:45] of on the same page there any comments

[45:50] » I don't really care the order of it um

[45:53] but this reminds me of I bought a new

[45:55] tractor a couple years ago and I ordered

[45:56] the manual and last winter I thought you

[45:59] know I'm going to actually read this

[46:00] thing cover to cover and I got partway

[46:02] through doing that and I had to stop I

[46:04] did read the city of Ashlin comp plan

[46:06] cover to cover twice back in 2010 when I

[46:09] ran for council. That was really

[46:11] ownorous. Um, and I'll never read a comp

[46:14] plan cover to cover again. What I want

[46:17] in a good comp plan or manual is I want

[46:21] a really well organized table of

[46:24] contents. So, if I want to know how many

[46:26] quarts of oil, what the air pressure in

[46:28] the tires is, things like that, it's

[46:30] easy to find. And then I want a good

[46:32] index in the back. So when I look up

[46:34] some of this stuff, I can find what I

[46:36] want quickly and easily. So it's

[46:39] extremely user friendly because as I

[46:41] look at the comp plan for Ashlin County,

[46:43] I I'm not going to read it cover to

[46:44] cover, but I do want to be able to find

[46:46] what I'm interested in fairly quickly

[46:48] and easily. And if any of you have ever

[46:51] looked at tractor manuals and some farm

[46:53] equipment manuals, they could not make

[46:56] it harder to find the simplest of things

[46:58] like if you want to change the oil, you

[47:00] know what oil and filter, even the tire

[47:02] pressure and stuff. It's crazy um how

[47:05] hard that is. How you know it just is. I

[47:08] want it to be really user friendly

[47:09] regardless of the order of the chapters

[47:11] in there.

[47:13] And then that's table of contents and

[47:15] that's index.

[47:17] And then after that it really doesn't

[47:19] matter because you're looking stuff up

[47:20] anyway. And flip into the page they give

[47:22] you.

[47:22] >> And maybe this is a good decision to

[47:25] make once we see everything all updated.

[47:28] We have more of the pieces to take a

[47:30] look at as a whole.

[47:35] So are you up to now uh timeline and

[47:37] responsibilities? Is that where uh

[47:39] >> I am not yet. So then we have the um

[47:43] actual process. So the first would be

[47:45] for Northwest Regional Planning which

[47:47] we've already started is to revise the

[47:49] background report using all of the

[47:51] sources and resources that we have to

[47:54] update the statistical data any of the

[47:56] tables, charts, graphs and then we're

[47:59] developing those new forecasts based on

[48:01] that. the current information for

[48:03] housing, population, land use and then

[48:06] updating the narrative um to match that

[48:10] updated statistical data.

[48:13] And then the second would be the review

[48:15] of the issues and opportunities

[48:18] from the previous plan and update those

[48:20] to reflect any new or emerging

[48:22] challenges. So issues those are

[48:24] challenges that could affect the

[48:26] county's goals or require attention

[48:28] while the opportunities are areas for

[48:30] improvement or positive change that the

[48:32] county could act on. I know that earlier

[48:36] extension had worked with National Park

[48:38] Service about um some extreme weather

[48:42] event climate resilience

[48:44] um meetings with stakeholders and um

[48:48] experts on certain subjects. And I think

[48:51] there are reports that we could um take

[48:54] a look at when we update the issues and

[48:56] opportunities for the comprehensive

[48:58] plan.

[48:59] And then I know there are also

[49:01] departmental surveys that went out this

[49:03] spring that we should also take a look

[49:05] at when we're updating the issues and

[49:06] opportunities list for the plan.

[49:14] And then after yes,

[49:17] >> as we all know, Northland College

[49:19] changed. When you get around to looking

[49:20] at population,

[49:23] um the state has projections for Ashlin

[49:25] County going out. I think it's a 2050

[49:27] now about the total population,

[49:29] different age groups and stuff. And I

[49:31] looked at the methodology um a couple of

[49:34] months ago on how they come up with

[49:36] those projections. And they use census

[49:37] data basically. So the North and

[49:40] students um should be included in the

[49:42] census data when it's taken. Whether

[49:44] they all were or not, I don't know, but

[49:46] they should have been included in that.

[49:48] And so in that data, you know, one of

[49:51] the things that they look at is women of

[49:54] childbearing age. And so with the

[49:57] college closing,

[49:59] we had a change in our demographics

[50:01] here. And I don't know how accurately

[50:04] the state projections are going to be

[50:06] given that change. And so when you look

[50:09] at the population demographics and

[50:11] projections,

[50:13] I don't think we can rely entirely on

[50:14] what the state has because of, you know,

[50:17] they're using sensitive data and that

[50:19] currently doesn't reflect Northland

[50:20] closing. So I think we'd have to dig a

[50:23] little deeper to come up with whatever

[50:25] we come up with.

[50:27] >> We'll take a look at that when we

[50:30] update those sections.

[50:33] So I think it's as of April 1st where

[50:37] you are for where you're counted in the

[50:39] census.

[50:43] April 1st of the time that you're taking

[50:46] the census

[50:47] >> but in 2020 the students would have been

[50:50] here and the number of students was

[50:51] higher then than it was when they

[50:53] closed. I

[50:53] >> think the 2020 census also has the added

[50:56] complication with numbers because of the

[50:59] pandemic.

[51:03] Good thinking.

[51:05] >> And Emily, I don't know if you'll need

[51:07] this, but before Northland College took

[51:09] their web page down, we our office

[51:12] downloaded lots of their center for

[51:15] rural development.

[51:16] >> That would be nice.

[51:17] >> I can forward those to you

[51:19] >> because there's lots of plans and

[51:20] studies that they had.

[51:22] >> Okay. So,

[51:23] >> I would Yes, please.

[51:28] And then a review of the vision

[51:30] framework. So that's the goals and

[51:32] objectives and the vision statement.

[51:35] And then I know similar to the issues

[51:38] and opportunities, we have the

[51:39] information that we can also take a look

[51:42] at from those extension national park

[51:45] service meetings about extreme weather

[51:48] to consider and then um those

[51:51] departmental surveys to take into

[51:53] consideration when we review the vision

[51:55] framework.

[51:58] And then we have the strategy review. So

[52:00] that's a review of the action steps and

[52:03] the action plan

[52:06] updating those as needed to reflect

[52:08] current priorities. So the action plan

[52:11] outlines each step including who's

[52:14] responsible when that action will be

[52:16] completed

[52:18] uh the resources needed to complete that

[52:20] action and then a column for evaluation.

[52:27] So, what additional resources might be

[52:29] available?

[52:33] And then step five, identify any new

[52:36] action steps.

[52:40] In doing so, thinking about do any of

[52:42] the current or forecasted issues and

[52:44] opportunities that we took a look at

[52:45] require any new action steps? If there

[52:48] are any new goals or object objectives

[52:51] identified to have supporting actions,

[52:54] is the county better today to accomplish

[52:57] certain strategic actions than um maybe

[53:00] it was in 2016 and are there any

[53:04] additional resources that we can use

[53:05] now? And then considering any new

[53:07] studies or plans that have been

[53:09] developed, I know that Ashlin County

[53:11] recently updated their hazard mitigation

[53:13] plan.

[53:20] And then the mapping also a step that

[53:23] Northwest Regional Planning will be a

[53:27] major part in

[53:29] the resource mapping will be primarily

[53:32] handled by our GIS specialists. It's CLM

[53:35] Lararsson. We'll update all of the maps

[53:36] using any new and updated GIS data. And

[53:40] while some of the um underlining data

[53:43] like the soils maps for instance won't

[53:45] change, we'll still take advantage of

[53:47] the latest GIS technology to produce

[53:51] refreshed layouts and imagery for all of

[53:53] those maps.

[53:56] And then the existing land use mapping,

[53:59] that's identifying the current land use

[54:01] in Ashlin County. And I think as a part

[54:03] of the farmland preservation plan

[54:05] update, we we already have um this

[54:08] information from Ashlin County. So we'll

[54:10] review that map as a full committee.

[54:14] And then based on that existing land use

[54:16] map, take a look at what the county

[54:19] would like the land use pattern to look

[54:21] like in 20 years.

[54:23] Last time you did this at a uh county

[54:26] scale, which we can do again this time.

[54:31] And then

[54:33] the

[54:37] steps for plan adoption would be to

[54:40] compile and finalize all of the updated

[54:42] data and information into a draft plan.

[54:46] Um and then once we have all of that, it

[54:49] would be a preliminary draft plan that

[54:51] we could um send out for public review

[54:54] and h conclude that with a public open

[54:57] house.

[54:58] And typically that includes Northwest

[55:00] Regional Planning facilitating a sort of

[55:03] presentation on what we have updated and

[55:05] what we found as a part of the plan

[55:06] update process and then open that up for

[55:10] um public comment and questions.

[55:14] And then after that the um this

[55:16] committee would approve a resolution

[55:19] recommending the updated draft plan be

[55:21] approved by the county board.

[55:24] At that time a the county board receives

[55:27] that resolution from this committee. A

[55:30] public hearing is scheduled

[55:33] the designated body which is typically

[55:35] the county board and it often the public

[55:38] hearing occurs um prior to the county

[55:42] board adoption of the ordinance. listens

[55:45] to any of the public testimony related

[55:47] to the draft plan.

[55:49] And then the county board could send

[55:51] back feedback

[55:53] um or send back the plan if there are

[55:55] any edits that are needed and um provide

[55:58] any feedback.

[56:01] And if there are no changes, the county

[56:03] board formally adopts the updated plan

[56:05] by ordinance. The plan is distributed to

[56:09] specific entities that are described in

[56:11] the statutes. So that's um local

[56:14] libraries, neighboring jurisdictions, uh

[56:16] Northwest Regional Planning,

[56:19] and then we'll also provide all of the

[56:21] data that we have collected, the GIS

[56:24] data, any um PDF and Word document

[56:27] copies of the plan, any print copies if

[56:30] those are defined in our contract, and

[56:33] then that 10year cycle for the

[56:35] comprehensive plan begins again.

[56:40] And then you have the implementation and

[56:42] putting that plan to work.

[56:45] And now we're on the timeline

[56:49] discussion of timeline and

[56:50] responsibilities.

[56:52] This is a a broad look at the timeline.

[56:58] Uh, so it'll be we're looking at about a

[57:00] 12-month period for the actual plan

[57:03] update process with this committee,

[57:05] concluding hopefully having a

[57:07] preliminary draft plan by August of 2026

[57:11] and then holding a public open house on

[57:14] that preliminary draft plan in October,

[57:18] the resolution, the formal approval of

[57:21] the draft plan by this committee, which

[57:24] could then go to the 30-day public

[57:27] comment period as required in the

[57:29] statutes. And then um no later than

[57:33] January 2027, the county board ordinance

[57:37] adopting the updated plan,

[57:40] >> Emily.

[57:41] >> So does January 27 meet the statutory

[57:44] requirement for filing or does it have

[57:46] to be in 26

[57:48] >> or are you talking specifically for the

[57:51] grant?

[57:52] >> You're going to file this with the

[57:53] state?

[57:53] >> Yeah, that's fine. But I don't know if

[57:56] the the um planning grant has any

[58:00] specific I think it was the spring of

[58:02] 2027

[58:04] that this

[58:06] needed to be completed for uh grant

[58:09] reporting purposes, but no requirements

[58:12] for the actual approval of the plan

[58:15] specifically for the Wisconsin

[58:17] Department of Administration

[58:19] um for the comprehensive plan update

[58:21] side.

[58:23] >> Okay.

[58:30] Um,

[58:36] and then

[58:41] any questions on any pieces of the

[58:43] timeline?

[58:46] >> Right. So, as I'm thinking about it,

[58:49] each of our subcommittees will

[58:52] be needing the input of the updated data

[58:56] from the background element relative to

[58:58] their element and it's going to be hard

[59:01] for subcommittees to have their own

[59:04] public access hearings until they get

[59:07] that data. So,

[59:09] >> when when do you think you might have

[59:10] the first draft data available for the

[59:14] subcommittees? because I'm thinking we

[59:16] ought to be, you know, getting something

[59:19] fleshed out by early early of the year.

[59:25] Stepping back a little, I just wanted to

[59:26] make sure that I understood

[59:29] which commi how many committees existed

[59:32] and who are on those committees.

[59:36] Um, and are you also including other

[59:39] stakeholders,

[59:41] subject matter experts within those

[59:43] committees?

[59:45] Thank you.

[59:48] >> Okay. So, I've handed you a list of the

[59:50] subcommittees and the subcommittee

[59:52] chairpersons who are all members of this

[59:54] committee. So, um most members of this

[59:57] committee are committee subcommittee

[1:00:00] chairpersons. They will be are tasked

[1:00:03] basically with pulling together input

[1:00:05] from members of the community,

[1:00:07] participants at a subcommittee level uh

[1:00:10] from different sources of information

[1:00:12] and reviewing the existing uh issues as

[1:00:17] uh opportunity risk and opportunities as

[1:00:21] are presented in the existing plan. But

[1:00:24] then they'll want your data update in

[1:00:26] order to evaluate whether to help them

[1:00:29] evaluate whether changes are going to be

[1:00:31] needed for this updated plan. So, you

[1:00:34] know, it's hard to have a subcommittee

[1:00:36] or I'm like Paul's doing transportation,

[1:00:39] I'm doing utilities. I can review the

[1:00:42] existing utilities portion. I can look

[1:00:44] at the existing issues that were there

[1:00:46] in 2016, the issues and opportunities,

[1:00:49] uh, the risks, but then I'm kind of

[1:00:52] stuck until I get the further update of

[1:00:54] whether there's more information that

[1:00:55] you have to give me from the back new

[1:00:57] background data.

[1:00:59] >> And then a question on

[1:01:02] the titles of the committees

[1:01:06] don't follow the current plan chapters.

[1:01:10] Well, they're pretty close, but they're

[1:01:11] designed the subcommunes are designed

[1:01:13] for data collection. So, community facilities and culture

[1:01:18] facilities are kind of one and the same

[1:01:20] thing. They don't really go with

[1:01:21] utilities. So, if I'm looking at

[1:01:23] utilities, I'm looking at, you know,

[1:01:25] Excel Energy and Nvado and hardcore

[1:01:28] utilities. I'm not looking at cultural

[1:01:30] facilities like the senior center. So in

[1:01:33] terms of getting our work done and just

[1:01:35] gathering information, getting input

[1:01:38] from experts in the community, we've

[1:01:40] divided it up this way, but then we'll

[1:01:42] just res resort it into the elements as presented in the statute.

[1:01:47] >> Okay. So your current comprehensive plan

[1:01:50] or the in the update, it'll still we'll

[1:01:52] update the plan as the utilities and

[1:01:55] community facilities chapter. It'll be

[1:01:57] at the stage of your subcommittee that

[1:01:59] you look at that differently. So it

[1:02:01] would probably to have that chapter with

[1:02:03] two subchapters. One of you know one is

[1:02:06] on community facilities and one is on

[1:02:08] >> I think it the plan al already separates

[1:02:11] them into two different sections within

[1:02:13] that chapter.

[1:02:16] Um

[1:02:16] >> so anyway these are the committees are

[1:02:19] the subcommittees are established as

[1:02:21] their for the collection of information.

[1:02:23] Yeah,

[1:02:24] >> it'll probably be um at our September

[1:02:28] October meeting that we'll start to have

[1:02:30] those draft plan chapters available.

[1:02:35] A question would be how do you want us

[1:02:37] to share those? in general will um put

[1:02:42] those on the Northwest Regional Planning

[1:02:46] web page, create a web page specifically

[1:02:49] for the Ashlin County Comprehensive Plan

[1:02:52] and then we can upload the current

[1:02:55] version of the updated plan chapters as

[1:03:00] they're revised. And then uh the Ashlin

[1:03:03] County website could include a link to

[1:03:06] the Northwest Regional Planning website

[1:03:08] and that seems to work best at this

[1:03:10] stage because then we can as we need to

[1:03:13] update things we can do so in real time.

[1:03:17] >> So I don't any observations that that

[1:03:20] makes sense to me as long as each

[1:03:21] subcommittee will have access to

[1:03:24] >> Yeah. It'll be a public link.

[1:03:25] >> Yeah. So, a link on our planning

[1:03:28] committee web page on the Ashlin County

[1:03:31] web page

[1:03:33] would take us Well, hold it. That's

[1:03:35] public access, though, isn't it? How do

[1:03:37] we do this? Our planning committee web

[1:03:39] page is a general public access web

[1:03:41] page. And I don't think you want public

[1:03:43] access into this draft environment.

[1:03:45] >> That would be the other question. At

[1:03:46] what stage do you want the public to

[1:03:48] review the draft? Would it be after the

[1:03:52] subcommittee review?

[1:03:54] >> Yes.

[1:03:55] So then we should utilize for the first

[1:03:59] preliminary draft review that goes to

[1:04:01] the subcommittees the SharePoint folder

[1:04:04] of Ashlin County

[1:04:07] and then it'll be after

[1:04:10] >> comment anybody.

[1:04:12] >> This is Elizabeth Franic. Can I

[1:04:14] interject? Um go ahead Liz. I don't know

[1:04:16] if it's because um you know my lack of

[1:04:19] uh of um time because I'm sick on my

[1:04:24] only day off or what it is. But um I

[1:04:28] just have a suggestion. We have other

[1:04:31] subcommittees.

[1:04:33] What I'm doing with my subcommittees is

[1:04:36] I'm going to contact each um head of

[1:04:39] that committee or you know, I'll use one

[1:04:43] as an example, the Ashlin Resource

[1:04:47] Center or whatever it is. um call or

[1:04:51] email them, tell them you know what

[1:04:55] you're all about and you would really

[1:04:57] like them to add uh planning to their um

[1:05:02] meeting.

[1:05:04] Okay, they do that. Now they have that

[1:05:08] open discussion at their meeting. Even

[1:05:10] if I can't attend, it's public

[1:05:13] knowledge. I can go back and see if

[1:05:15] anybody discussed anything. So then I

[1:05:19] can touch base with them and I can ask

[1:05:23] all these different entities

[1:05:26] to just how about I don't know I'm

[1:05:29] throwing this out here because a lot of

[1:05:32] people don't have a lot of time. I'm on

[1:05:35] other boards. I have another board

[1:05:37] meeting at 4:15 that I'll have to be on

[1:05:39] the phone because I can only talk. Um,

[1:05:43] what I would like to see is us engage

[1:05:47] with the comm community, not the

[1:05:49] community, but all our different

[1:05:52] subcommittees

[1:05:53] with one big meeting, inviting them all

[1:05:57] for input instead of us reaching out to

[1:06:01] them all the time because nobody has

[1:06:03] time. So in the future when we really

[1:06:05] need their input that we invite all

[1:06:09] these stakeholders to one big meeting,

[1:06:12] we can do a doodle poll. We can see when

[1:06:17] the mo majority of them can go. Even if

[1:06:20] it's on a a Saturday afternoon, I can

[1:06:23] schedule a time off of work. I have two

[1:06:25] jobs,

[1:06:27] so I don't know if that would work. But

[1:06:30] I think we're we're just um in the age

[1:06:33] of technology,

[1:06:35] we have better resources now to um get

[1:06:39] that information and people don't always

[1:06:43] have to be boots on the ground and sit

[1:06:47] in a thousand meetings. Just my input.

[1:06:50] Thank you.

[1:06:52] >> Uh let me just uh add to what Liz had to

[1:06:55] say there. I think as we are currently

[1:06:58] loosely structured, it is really up to

[1:07:02] each subcommittee chairperson to decide

[1:07:05] how they want to go about conducting

[1:07:07] their what we call a subcommittee

[1:07:10] effort. Whether it be individual

[1:07:11] reaching out or convening meetings or

[1:07:14] doing a zoom meetings or surveying

[1:07:16] different departments, it's really has

[1:07:18] to be as I've seen it in the hands of

[1:07:21] the individual subcommittee chair person

[1:07:25] because of our individual personal

[1:07:28] constraints. Is that I hope that answers

[1:07:30] your question, Liz. And I turn the floor

[1:07:33] back over to

[1:07:33] >> you. Am I

[1:07:37] Charlie? Oh. Oh, Pat, sorry.

[1:07:40] >> Can we go back to the previous screen?

[1:07:42] >> Yes.

[1:07:44] >> So, something I brought up um

[1:07:49] in other meetings is I'm looking at that

[1:07:51] first part, August 25 to August 2026. We

[1:07:54] have county board elections next April.

[1:07:58] And all things being equal, it sure be

[1:08:00] nice if we start and finished this plan

[1:08:03] all with the same county board. last

[1:08:05] time a third of the board turned over

[1:08:07] when we had an election. And so somehow

[1:08:10] in that first part, it wouldn't be

[1:08:13] surprising if there's some changes on

[1:08:15] the board and then you know you have the

[1:08:18] election then you have a reorganization

[1:08:19] meeting and then committee and you elect

[1:08:21] a board chair and a few other

[1:08:24] committees, highway committee, whatever.

[1:08:26] But then the board chair and the

[1:08:27] administrator meet and they make

[1:08:29] appointments to other committees which

[1:08:30] would include the plan committee at this

[1:08:32] point. that creates a really long gap if

[1:08:36] we have people leave

[1:08:39] where, you know, it's most of two months

[1:08:41] or so potentially.

[1:08:43] Um that I we'd have to

[1:08:47] I don't know have some sort of plan or just be ready to deal with a lag

[1:08:52] there to get new people and then to get

[1:08:55] them up to speed.

[1:08:57] >> Have you encountered that kind of

[1:08:58] situation in the past, Emily?

[1:09:00] >> That did occur in Brunett County. They

[1:09:03] were just getting to the plan adoption

[1:09:05] part of their comprehensive plan update

[1:09:07] process and they had an almost

[1:09:10] completely new county board, but they

[1:09:12] just they kept moving as business as

[1:09:16] usual and had new people to inform about

[1:09:18] the plan update process

[1:09:24] or pass an ordinance to prohibit any

[1:09:27] county board member from not running

[1:09:29] next year.

[1:09:31] You'd be superseding state law. Can't do

[1:09:33] it. Listen.

[1:09:35] >> Okay. Where are we now in your agenda

[1:09:37] there, Emily?

[1:09:38] >> Um,

[1:09:46] so did we accomp did we solve any other

[1:09:50] questions for subcommittee

[1:09:54] review of materials? So the subcommittee

[1:09:56] will review materials and then we'll

[1:09:58] hold a full committee um based on the

[1:10:02] recommendations of the subcommittees

[1:10:05] would be the general process

[1:10:09] right I think uh when you get into the

[1:10:13] after the subcommittees have formed

[1:10:14] their draft uh the recommended draft

[1:10:17] documents then I I suspect that the full

[1:10:20] committee ought to in session review

[1:10:24] each one of those individually in a

[1:10:26] series of meetings. Uh so maybe it'll

[1:10:29] take

[1:10:30] >> you know half an hour to review one

[1:10:33] elemented

[1:10:34] by the subcommittee

[1:10:36] >> and that might take like three or four

[1:10:38] meetings two or three meetings before we

[1:10:40] could get through all of the elements. a

[1:10:42] full committee, we won't probably review

[1:10:44] the background report and unless there's

[1:10:46] some kind of new very new information

[1:10:48] that's incorporated, but for the

[1:10:50] visioning and the implementation, we'll

[1:10:52] all review those subcommittee

[1:10:55] recommendations as a full group.

[1:10:57] >> Exactly.

[1:11:01] And then we'll also as we figure out

[1:11:03] where we are and as we have the updated

[1:11:05] draft plan elements, we'll probably

[1:11:08] create some deadlines for that

[1:11:10] subcommittee recommendations

[1:11:12] for incorporating into the plan update.

[1:11:18] » So your presentation

[1:11:22] » and then I think that answers the

[1:11:25] question I had on how to share the

[1:11:27] draft.

[1:11:29] um plan elements as they're available.

[1:11:31] We'll put those in the SharePoint folder

[1:11:37] and then um share those on our website

[1:11:39] when they're in that

[1:11:42] um after the subcommittee

[1:11:45] review version.

[1:11:49] And then what time do we have?

[1:11:56] Looks like we're at 211.

[1:11:59] And then the next part was about that

[1:12:02] public survey

[1:12:05] figuring out those sorts of logistics or

[1:12:08] starting to figure out those logistics,

[1:12:10] but I don't know if there was a

[1:12:11] confirmation on if we want to move

[1:12:14] forward with an online survey.

[1:12:18] Uh, so I think we're at the question of

[1:12:22] how do we say what the questions ought

[1:12:25] to be in the online survey.

[1:12:27] >> Yes.

[1:12:27] >> And I suspect you maybe have a straw man

[1:12:31] starting point for that.

[1:12:32] >> Yes. And I did

[1:12:35] >> it was somewhere I printed.

[1:12:41] Perhaps that could be shared by email to

[1:12:45] all the the committee members

[1:12:48] and then that feedback could come back

[1:12:50] to you

[1:12:52] from all of the committee members

[1:12:55] suggestions and you could consolidate a

[1:12:58] draft uh for us to be reviewed at our

[1:13:00] next meeting. do have a draft,

[1:13:04] >> okay,

[1:13:04] >> that I can share today and then it would

[1:13:07] be helpful by our September meeting if

[1:13:10] we could finalize survey questions is if

[1:13:13] this is how we're moving forward.

[1:13:16] So this the survey questions that you'll

[1:13:18] get today in this document and we'll

[1:13:19] also share those virtually

[1:13:22] um email those out. This is fully based

[1:13:25] on the Bernett County comprehensive plan

[1:13:27] update survey that they did um a couple

[1:13:30] of years ago.

[1:13:33] » So our comments back to you would be our

[1:13:35] suggestions for modifications that of

[1:13:38] that that straw man just a straw man.

[1:13:40] It's a place to start, right?

[1:13:41] >> And then thinking about by our next

[1:13:43] meeting we'll want to have these

[1:13:45] questions finalized by the end of our

[1:13:47] September meeting. So like I think by

[1:13:49] emailing it to each of us that will

[1:13:52] trigger each of us to please respond to

[1:13:53] it and give you the feedback

[1:13:56] >> because some of these might not be as

[1:13:59] specific specifically to Ashlin County

[1:14:02] as a coastal county

[1:14:10] because if this is what we moved forward

[1:14:12] with, we would look at

[1:14:15] um

[1:14:17] having a survey report of the survey

[1:14:21] responses to this committee for a

[1:14:23] presentation hopefully by the end of

[1:14:25] this year.

[1:14:28] So then we can use those survey

[1:14:29] responses to help inform the plan as

[1:14:32] well. Yes,

[1:14:34] >> probably.

[1:14:36] These were generated by the Bernett

[1:14:39] County Planning Committee for their

[1:14:41] comprehensive plan and they are based

[1:14:45] they were based off of their

[1:14:49] um 2010 plan and they modified some of

[1:14:53] the questions or some of the answers I

[1:14:55] suppose to talk about things like um

[1:14:58] concentrated animal feeding operations

[1:15:00] and some of the um technological

[1:15:03] advances that have happened especially

[1:15:05] with broadband. and internet and things

[1:15:06] like that.

[1:15:13] » You want to get people to tell you what

[1:15:16] they want.

[1:15:18] Is this like a kind of standard?

[1:15:21] >> So these questions are they generated

[1:15:25] by I don't know like university

[1:15:29] think tanks to generate the kind of

[1:15:31] answers that will give us the

[1:15:32] information. They were originally

[1:15:34] generated by the um River Falls

[1:15:38] campus

[1:15:39] and then modified in 2022 2023 for their

[1:15:44] plan update. And then I know 2006 survey

[1:15:48] questions for Ashlin County exist

[1:15:50] somewhere. That might be interesting,

[1:15:53] especially to compare results if those

[1:15:55] exist.

[1:15:56] I say that because I'm not qualified to

[1:15:59] determine if these questions are what we

[1:16:01] should ask or not. I read through them.

[1:16:03] I I like some of them, but I just want

[1:16:05] to make sure that they give us answers

[1:16:07] that let us, you know, understand what

[1:16:11] they want and that it applies to to the

[1:16:14] this this plan in a way that gives us

[1:16:18] meaning

[1:16:18] >> valid.

[1:16:20] >> And my computer that I inherited from

[1:16:24] extension employee before me didn't go

[1:16:26] back to 2006, but there might be some

[1:16:29] hard copies around. I'll poke around. I

[1:16:31] found some things on a disc. I just

[1:16:33] don't have a disc player, but Okay. I

[1:16:36] think that was mainly 2016 surveys.

[1:16:39] >> Okay.

[1:16:39] >> But I'll look for you.

[1:16:41] >> So, I found the farmland preservation

[1:16:43] plan from 2016. They redid that survey.

[1:16:47] So, we have those questions, but not the

[1:16:49] comprehensive plan from 2006 questions.

[1:16:54] Lisa, I I think Tom Moja Husky would

[1:16:58] probably be happy to

[1:17:01] tell you where you might find him

[1:17:03] because he did all that at the time. He

[1:17:06] ran this whole update thing.

[1:17:09] 2016. Yeah.

[1:17:13] Oh, that's right. Okay.

[1:17:19] » Miss Elizabeth Franic.

[1:17:22] Go ahead.

[1:17:22] >> Can I go ahead?

[1:17:24] >> Um, on the survey, I've had um community

[1:17:29] members and tourists ask questions about

[1:17:33] future use of Northland College.

[1:17:36] I also had um questions about the the

[1:17:39] county's role

[1:17:42] um assisting the tribe with um wild rice

[1:17:47] preservation.

[1:17:48] Um also with um

[1:17:53] uh future job opportunities

[1:17:56] um and

[1:17:59] how are we going to staff these jobs

[1:18:02] with um a college population missing?

[1:18:07] Thank you.

[1:18:10] Melissa, did you have more?

[1:18:15] Back to you, Emily.

[1:18:18] Um

[1:18:20] and then

[1:18:22] hopefully everyone can take a look at

[1:18:24] these in between this meeting and our

[1:18:26] next meeting and on the agenda for next

[1:18:28] meeting have finalization of the survey

[1:18:31] questions as well as sort of a timeline

[1:18:34] for the survey deployment as an agenda

[1:18:37] item.

[1:18:42] » Do we have time for me to ask just a few

[1:18:44] questions about this? Um, so I have

[1:18:48] looked over this. I think we we got it

[1:18:50] in an email from you several weeks ago.

[1:18:52] Um,

[1:18:54] one question I have is question three.

[1:18:56] It says, "Rate the quality of following

[1:18:58] services and facilities." When we're

[1:19:00] looking over this, should those services

[1:19:03] and facilities be within the wheelhouse

[1:19:07] of the county itself? So something like

[1:19:09] county parks, we actually don't have any

[1:19:12] county parks. Um, so would we take that out or are we asking sort of more

[1:19:18] about

[1:19:20] rural parks in general in the county

[1:19:24] that might be administered by something

[1:19:26] else like the state? Um,

[1:19:30] >> I would say whichever take you want to

[1:19:33] go with that.

[1:19:34] >> Okay. What's most important to have

[1:19:37] information about in general all

[1:19:41] >> opportunities for parks and open space

[1:19:43] in the county? Like that still has

[1:19:46] implications for right

[1:19:48] >> community development planning and land

[1:19:49] use,

[1:19:51] >> right? But it seems like we kind of need

[1:19:53] to decide like do we take this survey

[1:19:56] >> as a tool for judgment of how the county

[1:19:58] itself is operating

[1:20:00] >> or for what people want and need?

[1:20:03] >> Yes. in the county

[1:20:06] which might not be our purview.

[1:20:08] >> The the other one is if I was looking at

[1:20:10] this, I'm not so sure I would answered

[1:20:14] as a Ashlin County property park

[1:20:17] >> because a county has multiple parks

[1:20:20] within towns and villages.

[1:20:21] >> So I don't know if a person reading this

[1:20:24] would know

[1:20:25] >> just parks.

[1:20:25] >> If if we said African county parks, we'd

[1:20:28] say we don't have any.

[1:20:29] >> Yeah. So I might not answer but maybe

[1:20:33] within the county or something because

[1:20:34] it's not a county part.

[1:20:37] >> Yeah. Okay.

[1:20:38] >> So in in the name of time I think these

[1:20:40] are the the feedback that we want to be

[1:20:43] sending to Emily after we get the email

[1:20:46] from her.

[1:20:47] >> Yes.

[1:20:48] >> I don't know that it's uh you know it's

[1:20:51] 2:20 now. We we won't be able to

[1:20:53] complete this agenda today if we're

[1:20:54] going to be in a two-hour meeting.

[1:20:56] >> No. So, I'm just saying I think what

[1:20:59] we're asking is for all of us to give

[1:21:01] this kind of feedback to Emily for her

[1:21:03] to come up with the draft

[1:21:05] >> for our September meeting. Erica,

[1:21:07] >> I absolutely agree. What I would

[1:21:10] underline though is that this is going

[1:21:12] to take a long time for us to talk

[1:21:13] through even when she compiles

[1:21:15] everything. I feel like so I think that

[1:21:17] we probably need to make this like

[1:21:19] basically our only thing on the agenda

[1:21:21] in September.

[1:21:22] >> Yes.

[1:21:23] I'm I'm just I'm worried because we are

[1:21:25] going to want to talk through all of

[1:21:27] these questions. I think

[1:21:31] I could be wrong. I mean I I just but

[1:21:33] like I think this is probably going to

[1:21:34] be a process.

[1:21:36] >> You're correct in that thinking.

[1:21:39] >> Other comments Pat

[1:21:41] >> without having gone through this um I

[1:21:44] would also be interested in terms of the

[1:21:46] nine elements we're supposed to have in

[1:21:48] account plan. What is a balance of

[1:21:50] addressing each of those nine elements?

[1:21:52] And off hand, I don't know if we're

[1:21:54] hitting all nine. We're hitting some

[1:21:56] heavy and others not much.

[1:22:02] Other comments I say that um Lisa and

[1:22:06] Eric have done some preliminary survey

[1:22:09] work and those are there may be

[1:22:10] questions from that earlier survey work

[1:22:12] that we want to incorporate. I mean, I

[1:22:14] don't just because Baron Bernett County

[1:22:17] did it this way doesn't mean at all to

[1:22:19] me that we need I could throw this out.

[1:22:22] Now,

[1:22:22] >> these are all

[1:22:22] >> I could throw this out and come up with

[1:22:24] a whole different list of questions that

[1:22:25] interest us. So, that's the kind of

[1:22:28] input we need to give to Emily, I think.

[1:22:31] Um, moving on. Oh, Pat, sorry. This is

[1:22:35] just a thought and I'm going to regret

[1:22:37] saying it, but maybe for each of us that

[1:22:39] are chairing a different area like I've

[1:22:42] got egg and forestry. Maybe each of us

[1:22:46] come up with some questions related to

[1:22:48] the area that we're chairing. And that

[1:22:50] way as we think ahead towards public

[1:22:52] participation, if we were to say to

[1:22:54] people, you know, for me, for example,

[1:22:57] what's important related to agriculture

[1:22:59] to you, it would force me to think a

[1:23:01] little harder, a little sooner. That's why I'm going to regret having

[1:23:05] said that.

[1:23:09] » Sounds like a good idea to me. Uh, other

[1:23:12] cut.

[1:23:14] Moving on then, N.

[1:23:24] Yeah. And so then the discussion of

[1:23:26] countywide planning issues on

[1:23:27] opportunities, we'll postpone that to a

[1:23:30] future meeting.

[1:23:33] Okay. Although we'll be that's coming up

[1:23:35] next on this agenda with regard to the

[1:23:39] current plan. So if if if this is the

[1:23:43] end of your things that you need to talk

[1:23:46] about, let me ask if there anybody have

[1:23:48] further questions for for Emily or

[1:23:50] Autumn on what we've discussed so far.

[1:23:57] » One quick thing on the survey. I'm never

[1:24:00] quite

[1:24:01] confident about how we interact with the

[1:24:04] tribe on this?

[1:24:05] >> Sure.

[1:24:05] >> Um, should you I assume tribal members

[1:24:09] of course are going to be invol invited,

[1:24:11] but then in your experience with other

[1:24:14] counties, are there questions related to

[1:24:17] tribal issues or special needs of the

[1:24:19] tribe that we should make sure we

[1:24:22] address?

[1:24:23] >> I have not seen that. And honestly,

[1:24:27] Bernett County is the only uh county

[1:24:30] that's recently done a comprehensive

[1:24:31] plan survey and they have the St. Croy

[1:24:33] Chipoa Indian needs of Wisconsin within

[1:24:36] their county and they did not include

[1:24:38] any specific questions in their survey,

[1:24:40] but they did invite members of the tribe

[1:24:45] to every planning committee meeting.

[1:24:52] Okay, I think we're moving on then to

[1:24:54] item 5C in our agenda,

[1:24:59] which was to discuss the 20 2016 comp

[1:25:04] plan listed issues and opportunities. I

[1:25:07] just wanted to go over these. Can we

[1:25:09] bring those up on screen? Is that

[1:25:10] available?

[1:25:13] We have a backup document for that.

[1:25:17] All

[1:25:21] right.

[1:25:23] So,

[1:25:33] I have that here.

[1:25:38] Yeah. So, the the point of of bringing

[1:25:41] this up on the agenda is to focus our

[1:25:44] attention

[1:25:47] uh with regard to our individual

[1:25:51] elements that we're working on. So I

[1:25:54] want to make sure that everybody has

[1:25:56] paid attention to the existing listed

[1:26:00] issues opportunities under these

[1:26:01] different sections. So the first section

[1:26:03] if you'll scroll there a little bit uh

[1:26:06] Karisha you come to governance and

[1:26:08] citizen involvement

[1:26:11] and then we're going to go to the tax

[1:26:13] base which goes with land.

[1:26:16] and demographics and then you keep

[1:26:17] scrolling

[1:26:20] and you're to housing.

[1:26:23] Keep scrolling. Then you're to community

[1:26:24] character and then transportation,

[1:26:28] utilities and community facilities,

[1:26:31] agriculture,

[1:26:33] natural resources, economic development,

[1:26:38] intergovernmental cooperation and land

[1:26:40] use. So

[1:26:42] there's a lot here already and in in

[1:26:45] essence my thinking is that it's our

[1:26:50] u assignments as individual subcommittee

[1:26:53] leaders to review these existing

[1:26:58] um issues and opportunities as they were

[1:27:01] presented in the earlier plan and to

[1:27:03] think about how we might want to change

[1:27:05] or update those. So it's like we're not

[1:27:07] working from scratch.

[1:27:09] Each of us has a baseline here that's

[1:27:11] already on the books, already in effect

[1:27:13] as of right now because these are the

[1:27:16] listed issues and opportunities up until

[1:27:19] we actually issue a new plan. These are

[1:27:21] in effect and that to me simplifies our

[1:27:24] role. Now, there's so much here. I don't

[1:27:27] think we have the capacity to actually

[1:27:29] talk through all of these today, but I

[1:27:32] would ask that each subcommittee address

[1:27:35] these existing

[1:27:37] issues, opportunities as as currently in

[1:27:39] the plan. And then the item 5D on our

[1:27:45] agenda is to look at the vision

[1:27:47] statement. Now, that's something I think

[1:27:49] we probably could talk a little bit

[1:27:51] about today

[1:27:53] because this is if you can scroll to

[1:27:55] that and I'll scroll down to where it

[1:27:56] says vision and put that on the screen.

[1:27:59] Yeah, this is just, you know, this is

[1:28:01] just half a page to look at.

[1:28:04] And I just want to read it if you don't

[1:28:06] mind.

[1:28:08] It says, "We envision a county that

[1:28:10] recognizes the diversity of rural

[1:28:13] forested community and village life. By

[1:28:17] joining together, we become stronger and

[1:28:19] more efficient in meeting our citizens

[1:28:21] needs. We are challenged to maintain and

[1:28:25] improve land, air, and water quality in

[1:28:28] an increasingly complex world. than to

[1:28:31] meet these challenges. So,

[1:28:35] as Emily has pointed out to me, you

[1:28:37] don't really come up with your final

[1:28:38] vision after you've collected all your

[1:28:40] data, gotten your input from your

[1:28:41] community and think, you know, what is

[1:28:43] the vision that the that the citizens

[1:28:45] actually want us to represent.

[1:28:48] But it strikes me that also we need to

[1:28:49] be thinking about whether

[1:28:52] what we as a committee think about this

[1:28:54] vision statement. And I'm wondering if

[1:28:56] anybody can uh bring forth an opinion

[1:28:59] upon whether this is what we would want

[1:29:01] to represent going forward or whether

[1:29:04] there should be some modification,

[1:29:06] adjustment, amplification. Are there any

[1:29:09] thoughts on this question of the vision

[1:29:11] statement? Because it becomes a guidance

[1:29:13] for the entire document.

[1:29:20] Charlie,

[1:29:23] >> I liked when we talked, I don't know,

[1:29:26] three three or four weeks ago, you

[1:29:27] mentioned putting something in there, an

[1:29:30] overarching statement uh to some effect

[1:29:32] of to improve everyone's quality of

[1:29:34] life. As I I after talking to you, I

[1:29:37] agree this this is 100% to make sure

[1:29:40] make everyone's quality of life better

[1:29:43] and to to memorialize that somewhere in

[1:29:46] it, I think is a good idea.

[1:29:49] But I that's my opinion. Thank you.

[1:29:52] >> Other thoughts? Listen,

[1:29:55] >> I totally think that should be near the

[1:29:58] top because that's the purpose of a

[1:30:00] plan. And if we pray put include that

[1:30:03] phrase in there, that helps people

[1:30:05] understand better like what's the

[1:30:06] purpose of the thing. It's 300 pages.

[1:30:09] You know, the purpose is we're trying to

[1:30:12] make sure that we at least maintain but

[1:30:14] improve quality of life for all. So, I

[1:30:17] would like that in there. And I'd also

[1:30:18] like some obviously some sort of

[1:30:20] overarching reference to the fact that

[1:30:23] we are experiencing and will continue

[1:30:26] experience the impacts from extreme

[1:30:28] weather events.

[1:30:30] That's not really addressed.

[1:30:33] >> Let me look then down below where it

[1:30:36] says um

[1:30:39] we are challenged. So it says to meet

[1:30:40] these challenges we will and I could

[1:30:43] easily see placing in there a statement

[1:30:46] of dealing with changes in extreme

[1:30:48] weather as one of these statements.

[1:30:50] Yeah.

[1:30:50] >> So these statements have you know have

[1:30:52] robust e robust economic growth have a

[1:30:55] thriving local economy and it mentions

[1:30:58] quality of life and it says you know

[1:30:59] wellqualified workforce with high

[1:31:01] quality of life is actually mentioned in

[1:31:03] here. um maintain highquality natural

[1:31:06] resources, continue its position in

[1:31:08] stewardship of county, state, federal

[1:31:10] lands. So I think these subsidiary

[1:31:12] statements support then the the real

[1:31:15] simple vision that we're are our our

[1:31:19] goal is for the quality of life of the

[1:31:21] citizens of the county to be uh ever

[1:31:25] improved if we could. Other comments?

[1:31:33] Well, at the very end that four-year

[1:31:35] higher educational institutions um seems

[1:31:38] like it needs an edit at this point. But

[1:31:40] it also strikes me having um taught at

[1:31:42] the tech school up here and like half my

[1:31:45] load was online and ITV courses is

[1:31:48] there's not a component in there related

[1:31:51] to um making use of the internet. So

[1:31:54] we're we're getting grant money. So

[1:31:56] Nvado is going to expand. That's going

[1:31:57] to be really huge in a lot of ways.

[1:32:00] partly because socially younger people

[1:32:02] want to be able to get on to social

[1:32:04] media and stuff, you know, and connect

[1:32:06] with people, but also if they're going

[1:32:08] to start a business without internet

[1:32:10] access, it it's really hard. So, that

[1:32:13] part's going to help, but it also then

[1:32:15] expands educational opportunities beyond

[1:32:18] our traditional models of two-year

[1:32:20] schools, four-year schools and stuff for

[1:32:22] a lot of other learning that people can

[1:32:25] do um remotely um for whatever reason

[1:32:29] they want to learn things, starting a

[1:32:31] business or particular skills that they

[1:32:34] want to learn, they can um access those

[1:32:36] things. So more and more of post high

[1:32:40] school education, people are getting,

[1:32:43] you know, things they call certificates

[1:32:45] and badges where they acquire a certain

[1:32:47] set of courses or skills from a variety

[1:32:50] of online um places. Um so they can pick

[1:32:54] the courses they want from the places

[1:32:56] they want. And some of these places, and

[1:32:58] they've been doing this for a good

[1:32:59] decade or more, they give what they call

[1:33:01] badges and certificates. And it's just

[1:33:03] an acknowledgement that somebody's

[1:33:04] acquired some background. And so we see

[1:33:07] far more of that than we used to. And

[1:33:10] the very last bullet doesn't reflect

[1:33:12] that. Um but it is what people are

[1:33:16] doing, especially if they don't want to

[1:33:17] in part because of child care and stuff.

[1:33:19] They don't want to go somewhere else to

[1:33:21] go to school like they used to, but they

[1:33:23] still want to acquire learning to better

[1:33:26] their life here.

[1:33:30] » Yeah, I think we can build on that

[1:33:32] comment. It's really significant because

[1:33:36] this world of more advanced computing

[1:33:39] which we're calling artificial

[1:33:40] intelligence but basically it's really

[1:33:42] high-speed deep research is

[1:33:45] democratizing education for people

[1:33:49] almost anywhere on the face of the

[1:33:51] planet. So that someone through remote

[1:33:54] learning whether formalized or

[1:33:56] unformalized has access to answering

[1:34:00] almost any question that you can have.

[1:34:02] You can you can get an answer in about

[1:34:05] two minutes

[1:34:07] by going online and you might have to go

[1:34:09] deeper to find out the truth. But I

[1:34:10] think you've raised you've opened the door on a on a subject matter that

[1:34:17] really does impact our future as a

[1:34:19] county. Lisa, did you have something?

[1:34:21] >> Yeah. So could you would you see

[1:34:23] something like keep that last sentence

[1:34:25] and then at the end it says educational

[1:34:27] institutions and say or certification

[1:34:30] programs through in-person or online

[1:34:32] learning opportunities just add that

[1:34:35] would that like expand that last bullet

[1:34:38] with your comments to modernize it. um

[1:34:42] something along that line. But I I've

[1:34:44] also know people who have learned an

[1:34:47] awful lot and it's like and you let's

[1:34:49] say they want to start their own

[1:34:50] business. They can learn a lot online

[1:34:53] either through courses that are offered

[1:34:55] by a an accredited institution but other

[1:34:59] sources that they can you know go to.

[1:35:03] But that internet is a huge component of

[1:35:05] that because they've got to have the

[1:35:07] access to get there and then they find

[1:35:09] the things that are of interest to them.

[1:35:11] some of the stuff, you know, with the

[1:35:14] stuff at the farm and equipment and

[1:35:15] repair. It's amazing how many I mean,

[1:35:18] I'm doing it now, too, you know, YouTube

[1:35:19] videos. I'm amazed at the people I've

[1:35:22] talked to. And there was a guy just a

[1:35:24] couple of days ago I sold him something

[1:35:26] and he was out at the farm and and he

[1:35:28] was showing me that he was doing I mean,

[1:35:30] he's doing it all online. and it's all

[1:35:33] um taking courses and programs and

[1:35:34] getting things certified, including

[1:35:36] something he's building, you know, where

[1:35:38] he need to get a a permit, you know, to

[1:35:40] make sure it was done right. It's

[1:35:41] astounding what some of these people are

[1:35:43] doing, but it's not the formal education

[1:35:45] we think of. So, something broad enough

[1:35:47] that captures

[1:35:49] I don't care if I have a certificate or

[1:35:51] badge also because you can do that. No,

[1:35:56] >> I uh I wrote down here I might express

[1:35:59] that as expanding remote learning

[1:36:02] opportunities. It's a really big

[1:36:05] >> both formal and informal. So some I

[1:36:08] don't want somebody to think I have to

[1:36:09] go to a school. I don't have to sign up

[1:36:11] for a class because so much of this is

[1:36:13] informal now

[1:36:15] and it meets their needs but they don't

[1:36:18] want the bureaucracy of school or even

[1:36:21] the tuition in many cases of it.

[1:36:24] I'm just curious if you want us to go

[1:36:27] through like these one at a time or are

[1:36:29] we in a process where we're sending it

[1:36:32] our comments to Emily like we are about

[1:36:34] the issues and

[1:36:36] I think this is a good preliminary

[1:36:39] discussion but when we get into the

[1:36:41] actual visioning review after the

[1:36:43] subcommittees have met we'll take a look

[1:36:45] at this as a full committee before we

[1:36:47] get into the goals and objectives as a

[1:36:49] full committee.

[1:36:50] >> Okay.

[1:36:51] >> Yes. There's a point of putting this on

[1:36:52] the agenda is to get us thinking about

[1:36:54] this now.

[1:36:55] >> Yeah.

[1:36:55] >> About what has been said in the past

[1:36:58] >> and so that we are

[1:37:00] >> Yeah. So that we're working for ideas.

[1:37:03] But this is all kind of straw, you know,

[1:37:06] coming up with preliminary ideas at this

[1:37:08] point.

[1:37:09] >> So

[1:37:14] I'm just trying to find a logical place

[1:37:15] to throw this in. I I would like this

[1:37:18] body's approval for two elements. I

[1:37:20] would like to I have a professor from

[1:37:22] Northland who's willing to create a

[1:37:24] sustainability element and I'm halfway

[1:37:27] done writing a community health element

[1:37:30] and I just want to get this green lit

[1:37:32] here before I invest any more time in

[1:37:35] it. Um and you asked me to bring this up

[1:37:38] here and I'm so is that how you wanted

[1:37:41] me to do it? I hope.

[1:37:44] So Charlie's proposing,

[1:37:47] as I understand your proposal, adding to

[1:37:50] um what you would call another element

[1:37:52] of of the comprehensive plan. So the

[1:37:55] question is whether that you fit that in

[1:37:58] within one of the existing subcommittee

[1:38:00] structures or whether it's appropriate

[1:38:04] uh in what we file with the state to add

[1:38:07] these additional pieces.

[1:38:11] So I don't you have any thoughts on that

[1:38:14] Emily? Maybe Charlie maybe you could

[1:38:16] explain a little bit more for Emily what

[1:38:17] you're thinking.

[1:38:18] >> Sure. I was going through it and having

[1:38:20] done the last one I was was reading it

[1:38:22] and I realized you know we have a health

[1:38:24] and human services but we don't have a

[1:38:26] section in there and community health is

[1:38:28] very important but we don't mention it

[1:38:31] for quality of life. It it should have

[1:38:33] its own bullet up there and

[1:38:35] sustainability is is very important. and

[1:38:37] we have committees. We the city has the

[1:38:40] last sustainability committee that I'm

[1:38:42] aware of, but we don't have a we don't

[1:38:45] have an element in the comprehensive

[1:38:47] plan. So, I thought to me, I think they

[1:38:50] should absolutely have their own spot,

[1:38:52] but I'm just one guy and maybe I'm off

[1:38:54] the deck, but I'm willing to do the work

[1:38:56] to get a draft to this body to look at

[1:38:58] if the body is interested in doing it

[1:39:00] and if you feel you can put it somewhere

[1:39:02] in the plan. I don't care where it goes.

[1:39:05] Doesn't have to have new elements. just

[1:39:06] it seems like that would be the

[1:39:09] appropriate spot. But I I don't care as

[1:39:11] long as I can do a an element and put

[1:39:13] goals and action items at the bottom and

[1:39:15] let us know what the challenges are,

[1:39:16] what the threats are. Uh community

[1:39:19] health has health services has a

[1:39:21] community health assessment and a

[1:39:22] community health improvement plan, but

[1:39:24] the plan is is lacking in action steps

[1:39:27] right now. I thought I would take that

[1:39:29] and give it some teeth and then you know

[1:39:32] some things we can do to get where we

[1:39:35] need to be.

[1:39:36] in in that regard. So, it's just

[1:39:38] throwing that out there. If you want me

[1:39:40] to continue the march, I will and I'll

[1:39:42] have something for you well in time of

[1:39:43] your deadlines, but it is additional

[1:39:45] work. So, it it's your your guys's

[1:39:49] decision to make.

[1:39:53] » I think those sound like good things to

[1:39:57] incorporate into something like a

[1:39:58] comprehensive planning document. and

[1:40:01] whether or not those are specific

[1:40:04] standalone plan elements or you want to

[1:40:06] integrate that throughout the

[1:40:08] comprehensive plan. Um, we could do

[1:40:11] either direction

[1:40:14] >> and I think B County is rich with the

[1:40:17] sustainability. They've infused it in

[1:40:19] the whole plan

[1:40:20] >> and then they also added an introduction

[1:40:23] to their plan specifically about systems

[1:40:26] thinking and sustainability.

[1:40:28] >> Yeah. So I know with the extreme weather

[1:40:31] we knew that there might be some

[1:40:33] resistance in the county. Not everyone

[1:40:35] believes that climate changing climate

[1:40:37] conditions are happening. So what we

[1:40:40] were trying to do was say okay let's not

[1:40:42] even deal with that but we know we are

[1:40:44] having increased extreme weather and

[1:40:47] then how can we infuse each of the nine

[1:40:50] elements with some acknowledgement and

[1:40:52] action on how to deal with how that

[1:40:54] affects housing or transportation or

[1:40:57] natural resources. So to me that seemed

[1:41:00] like the more integrated approach like

[1:41:02] take sustainability actions and

[1:41:05] principles and embed them into each of

[1:41:07] the nine chapters where you can. But but

[1:41:10] Bayfield counties is a great model for

[1:41:13] how they did that.

[1:41:16] >> Um let me get it. I

[1:41:18] >> can I interject again? I'm sorry.

[1:41:21] >> Go ahead, Liz. You're online. Um,

[1:41:24] Charlie, I think the community health is

[1:41:27] very important and I'd like to see um

[1:41:31] you put into that um the epidemic of the

[1:41:37] drugs

[1:41:38] and the homeless and the because of them

[1:41:44] out there um it is a big effect on their

[1:41:48] health, their their family's health. um

[1:41:51] they can't be taken in by family. Most

[1:41:53] of them, not all of them are actively

[1:41:56] using and how is um how will that affect

[1:42:02] our future here? Um what do we need to

[1:42:06] accommodate so there won't be more um

[1:42:10] homeless individuals? Uh just recently

[1:42:13] on the scanner there was an OD. So I

[1:42:17] don't know the effects or the outcome

[1:42:19] yet. I'm hoping that they got to them in

[1:42:22] time. Um it's also um a lot of people

[1:42:28] that use have um committed felonies

[1:42:33] and as a result of that cannot find jobs

[1:42:36] or housing. So we have to see as a um

[1:42:41] going forward as a plan what can we do

[1:42:46] to help these future of these people cuz

[1:42:51] they are they're community members long

[1:42:54] as you know they're even actively using

[1:42:58] they're still our community members.

[1:43:01] Thank you.

[1:43:03] >> Let me throw in a point of information

[1:43:05] here. So it looks to me Charlie like

[1:43:07] your your ideas are welcome. It's just a

[1:43:09] matter of where where fits in the final

[1:43:11] document is not won't be too much of an

[1:43:13] issue. But if you go to the um the

[1:43:16] minutes of the last health and human

[1:43:18] services board meeting on which agenda

[1:43:21] it requests input to the planning

[1:43:23] process. You'll find extensive

[1:43:26] documentation and answers to uh a lot of

[1:43:29] the issues that you're concerned with.

[1:43:31] It's it's very extensive information

[1:43:33] there. Pat. Well, Alyssa said a lot of

[1:43:36] what I was going to say. We have an ad

[1:43:38] hoc committee versus standing because

[1:43:40] initially our chair wanted to have a

[1:43:42] committee on climate change, but from

[1:43:45] what I read other than Monroe County,

[1:43:47] you know, they kind of form and then

[1:43:48] they go by the wayside and they don't

[1:43:50] have any budget and they don't have

[1:43:52] really any authority to compel anybody

[1:43:54] to do something. So except for Monroe

[1:43:56] County where they rotate groups in, you

[1:43:58] know, say related to egg or, you know,

[1:44:01] infrastructure for power or something,

[1:44:03] you know, then they kind of have a group

[1:44:04] that addresses something and then they

[1:44:06] rotate to something else. So that has

[1:44:07] worked. So we're a standing committee

[1:44:10] because climate change alone probably

[1:44:12] wasn't going to get people to show up

[1:44:13] and do something and have a budget and

[1:44:16] anything. So I this is off the top of my

[1:44:20] head what and I made some notes. What

[1:44:22] maybe what we could do is so

[1:44:24] sustainability and climate change are

[1:44:26] two important issues is that as I

[1:44:28] develop questions for my pieces on egg

[1:44:31] and forestry certainly I can tie climate

[1:44:34] change and sustainability into the

[1:44:35] questions I ask um and work on with the

[1:44:39] chapters I have but maybe we make a list

[1:44:42] of these things that we think are really

[1:44:43] important things community health on

[1:44:45] that list too just as a reminder that as

[1:44:48] we work on our sections and hold our

[1:44:50] public hearing things that we include

[1:44:53] these topics that we are trying to

[1:44:55] infuse. So we um infuse them to the

[1:44:58] extent that we can and then at some

[1:45:00] point if we just really can't infuse

[1:45:02] something well then it would be clear

[1:45:04] that we need standalone but that way

[1:45:06] we're all trying to infuse the things

[1:45:08] that we as a group think are really

[1:45:10] important to hit. Um and so certainly

[1:45:14] the sustainability for what I have

[1:45:16] absolutely I shouldn't miss that. Same

[1:45:18] with climate change for my two I

[1:45:20] shouldn't miss that.

[1:45:23] Uh there's let me throw in just another

[1:45:25] word to add to the record here is that

[1:45:27] um just like talking about extreme

[1:45:30] weather is easier for some folks than

[1:45:32] talking about um climate change. it can

[1:45:35] be easier to talk about resilience

[1:45:39] uh along with sustainability

[1:45:41] because that's u that's something that

[1:45:44] people do relate to is is the ability to

[1:45:47] you know be resilient. So any other

[1:45:50] thoughts

[1:45:52] Charlie

[1:45:53] >> I just want to be clear I I have the

[1:45:55] capacity to prepare two two things

[1:45:57] sustainability and community health. I'm

[1:46:00] not doing anything on climate change,

[1:46:01] but if you want me to research climate

[1:46:04] change deep and bring the stuff here.

[1:46:06] >> No, I think we're saying that climate

[1:46:07] change folds into that. When you talk

[1:46:09] about sustainability, your climate

[1:46:11] change folds into it.

[1:46:12] >> Right. But it isn't the focus.

[1:46:14] >> But climate change folds into almost

[1:46:16] every element.

[1:46:17] >> Yeah.

[1:46:17] >> On the table.

[1:46:19] >> The backdrop to our lives now. Right. I

[1:46:21] agree.

[1:46:26] I think we can move on to uh

[1:46:28] subcommittee reports.

[1:46:31] See if we're doing any better this month

[1:46:33] than last month. Uh can we go around the

[1:46:35] table and see that's starting with you

[1:46:38] Charlie? I think you almost just did a

[1:46:39] subcommittee report in a sense. Push

[1:46:40] yourself.

[1:47:12] Um,

[1:47:14] Kisha, would we have the ability for

[1:47:16] subcommittees to put draft materials

[1:47:20] onto SharePoint?

[1:47:22] And how would they do that? So, would

[1:47:25] Charlie send something to you then to be

[1:47:27] posted to SharePoint or

[1:47:30] >> I'm not sure. I'll have to look into

[1:47:32] that. I'm sorry. I'm not sure. I'll have

[1:47:34] to look into that.

[1:47:37] Uh next next up is um Lisa

[1:47:42] trends and issues.

[1:47:44] >> Yeah. So um I've been floating this idea

[1:47:47] around to different people who have let

[1:47:49] me know that they're really interested

[1:47:50] in the plan. Um and they want to come to

[1:47:54] like a quote meeting to review these

[1:47:56] kind of go through them and say which

[1:47:58] ones are still relevant, which ones are

[1:48:00] new. I was kind of waiting to get with

[1:48:02] regional planning because I knew they

[1:48:04] have a process for reviewing this too.

[1:48:06] So we we talked earlier about a good

[1:48:10] process, but I do like what you said

[1:48:12] earlier, George, about each of our

[1:48:14] subcommittees or subgroups would also

[1:48:18] take these current um issues that were

[1:48:22] identified and review them together and

[1:48:25] then somehow look at those as a big

[1:48:28] picture to see what else pops up. you

[1:48:31] know, like I am now inundated with

[1:48:35] reading about AI and the impacts of AI

[1:48:39] development on communities in a whole

[1:48:41] bunch of invisible ways I never thought.

[1:48:43] Um, but I think if we look at all of

[1:48:48] these new issues and opportunities that

[1:48:51] are brought up in the subgroups and then

[1:48:53] look at them as a whole, we'll get even

[1:48:55] more things that are going to present

[1:48:57] themselves in the next 10 years.

[1:49:05] Liz, do you want to add anything more

[1:49:07] from the point of view of cultural

[1:49:08] resources and community facilities?

[1:49:12] >> Not at this time, but thank you.

[1:49:15] >> Uh, egg and forestry, natural resources.

[1:49:18] Pat,

[1:49:20] >> so I'm on the farmland preservation

[1:49:22] committee with Charlie. We had another

[1:49:24] meeting yesterday. I think that update

[1:49:27] will go a long way towards background

[1:49:29] for the egg component as far as getting

[1:49:32] ready to go from there. The forestry um

[1:49:35] for whatever reason a while back the

[1:49:37] forestry plan didn't show up on the

[1:49:39] county website. That should be there

[1:49:40] now. That's I 90 pages or so. So I'll

[1:49:45] have to delve into that. But the next

[1:49:47] couple weeks I've got my own stuff out

[1:49:50] at the farm related to this stuff. I'm

[1:49:53] trying to keep up with doing that stuff.

[1:49:56] I'm ready for the snow to fly in. Um

[1:50:00] >> I I really am.

[1:50:03] Okay. So,

[1:50:06] next is transportation. I don't want to

[1:50:08] put Paul on the spot because Paul agreed

[1:50:11] to take the transportation part of this

[1:50:13] off my hand so I could deal with other

[1:50:15] stuff. But um so but so far I had um the

[1:50:20] highway committee got back to us and uh

[1:50:24] volunteered Tom Reamer to help with

[1:50:27] transportation representing highway. Uh

[1:50:30] Dick Pufall represents the board to BART

[1:50:34] and he is willing to participate in that

[1:50:37] process as is uh there's a former board

[1:50:39] member uh George Mika who would be

[1:50:41] interested in participating.

[1:50:43] um Tom Yankee who's the chair of the

[1:50:45] Harbor Commission uh will get someone

[1:50:47] from Harbor Commission to participate.

[1:50:50] So you'll have a group of people from

[1:50:51] disparate sources and I'll pass this

[1:50:54] information on to Paul to for sources of

[1:50:56] inputs. But do you want to add anything

[1:50:58] to that Paul?

[1:51:01] >> I've got a better blueprint of what my

[1:51:03] goals are after this meeting today. So

[1:51:06] thank you.

[1:51:08] So then next is I'm so I'm I'm hanging

[1:51:11] on to utilities by which we mean

[1:51:13] physical utilities like you know

[1:51:16] electrical service uh internet service

[1:51:19] um water utilities sewage utilities and

[1:51:23] I will be uh list has provided me a

[1:51:26] number of names to contact to put

[1:51:28] together uh

[1:51:30] a subcommittee for input to that and

[1:51:33] once we get um

[1:51:35] the inputs from a number of these

[1:51:37] sources is then we'll put together a

[1:51:39] draft and and bring it back for the the

[1:51:42] committee here to look at.

[1:51:45] And then what comes after utilities is

[1:51:47] housing. Uh Brad was excused today, so

[1:51:50] he's working on housing. Uh land and

[1:51:53] economic development is yours, Gary.

[1:51:55] How's that going?

[1:51:56] >> Well, you know, it's it's kind of funny

[1:51:58] when you read the plan because I saw two

[1:52:01] issues that brought something else to

[1:52:04] mine in economic development. One says

[1:52:06] promote and leverage the county's

[1:52:08] assets, natural resources, which you

[1:52:11] know we should do. It brings people to

[1:52:13] the county. The other one says um

[1:52:17] provide maintenance and expansion of the

[1:52:19] tourism industry, which is good for us.

[1:52:22] But here's the situations that's

[1:52:24] developed in my area. In a two-mile

[1:52:26] radius of my home, 10 homes have been

[1:52:30] sold in the last three years.

[1:52:33] Only one is a local resident. Nine of

[1:52:36] them are not year round residents. We

[1:52:40] have a problem. I'm not knocking the

[1:52:43] people using these homes as a vacation

[1:52:46] stop,

[1:52:48] but that's not a good trend. It's not

[1:52:51] good for the schools. It's not good for

[1:52:53] the county because these people are

[1:52:55] here. One of the homes, they're here

[1:52:57] maybe three weeks out of the whole year.

[1:52:59] It's a home off the market to the

[1:53:01] locals. I keep telling the young people

[1:53:03] to stay. They say I can't find a house.

[1:53:05] Well, I know why now. So, it, you know,

[1:53:09] I think in our it's just a long range

[1:53:12] issue. We could not going to solve it

[1:53:14] today or tomorrow, but um we have a

[1:53:17] problem with the homes being bought up

[1:53:19] by people who don't live here a full

[1:53:21] year. And and it it's scary when I look

[1:53:24] around my neighborhood. The houses are

[1:53:26] all empty for a few weeks out of the

[1:53:29] year. And these aren't cheap homes

[1:53:31] either. I mean, the one that just sold

[1:53:34] is $677,000.

[1:53:37] It's not like anybody local is going to

[1:53:38] buy that anyways, I don't believe. But

[1:53:41] it's the home that's off the market in

[1:53:43] 80 acres that's gone. So, um, it it's,

[1:53:48] you know, that's why we want to promote

[1:53:50] tourism. It's great for the county. It's

[1:53:52] great for the area. We get a lot of

[1:53:54] revenue from that. But I'm seeing more

[1:53:58] and more people come up here and light

[1:53:59] the pl the area, but they don't want to

[1:54:02] live here year round. So somewhere we

[1:54:05] have to address that. And I don't we're

[1:54:07] not going to solve that problem

[1:54:08] ourselves. But it's just something to

[1:54:10] think about as you see what's going on

[1:54:12] in at least the southern part of the

[1:54:14] county.

[1:54:17] >> Okay. And moving on to risk and

[1:54:20] opportunities. That was you, Lisa.

[1:54:21] Anything on that at this point?

[1:54:24] No, I was kind of thinking that that

[1:54:27] discussion again would pop up in each of

[1:54:29] the subgroups but also

[1:54:33] for brevity or efficiency have the

[1:54:36] issues and opportunities combined with

[1:54:39] the discussion of the threats. You know,

[1:54:42] because people will often say, "Here's

[1:54:44] an issue. Outside people are buying

[1:54:47] homes, short-term rentals or seasonal

[1:54:50] and then here's a threat." you know,

[1:54:52] right away you said, "Here's a threat.

[1:54:54] Now, now I don't have a community. I

[1:54:56] don't have active people that are

[1:54:57] volunteering for my rescue operations or

[1:55:00] running for town board, you know, so the

[1:55:02] issue often leads right to the threat."

[1:55:05] So, I was thinking that really our

[1:55:06] conversation about those should somehow

[1:55:09] be a big picture of all of those things,

[1:55:14] not separately.

[1:55:16] That makes sense.

[1:55:20] Okay, I think we can move on then to our

[1:55:22] next uh agenda item which is publicity

[1:55:27] and public participation plan allocation

[1:55:29] of tasks. Um do we have that list there

[1:55:34] online?

[1:55:37] Not the committees. We need the um the

[1:55:40] public participation plan.

[1:55:44] Is that is there is on the document or

[1:55:46] do we have to go into the web page?

[1:55:50] Yeah. go to the public participation

[1:55:52] plan

[1:55:54] and then scroll to the section toward

[1:55:56] the end that lists all the different

[1:55:58] mechanisms

[1:56:00] of uh communication.

[1:56:09] Okay. Oops. Not there. Focus.

[1:56:18] Yeah. There you go. That's those. Yeah.

[1:56:19] a little bit more.

[1:56:28] Okay. So, this is a question of whether

[1:56:31] anybody is up for doing anything here.

[1:56:35] Um,

[1:56:37] I talked to Mary McFetridge at um,

[1:56:43] Chamber of Commerce, Ashlin Chamber of

[1:56:45] Commerce, and she's willing to

[1:56:47] distribute a um, a newsletter

[1:56:50] for us. So, do we have that draft

[1:56:53] newsletter there?

[1:56:56] It's uh

[1:57:02] is it one of the other documents

[1:57:03] attached?

[1:57:06] >> Okay.

[1:57:11] Oh, that is the that is the draft

[1:57:12] newsletter right there. Is that okay?

[1:57:15] I just drafted a one pager to be

[1:57:17] an example of what could easily be done.

[1:57:20] Uh so chamber of commerce has a broad

[1:57:23] dissemination

[1:57:25] and uh we can use other mechanisms of

[1:57:27] dissemination of well but uh

[1:57:30] Mary is very uh willing to be very

[1:57:32] helpful and suggested a lot of different

[1:57:35] uh you know getting it out to other

[1:57:36] chambers in the area and she'll do this

[1:57:40] for us. I asked to do it quarterly. I

[1:57:43] would just probably do a one pager and

[1:57:45] this is what I would have put in the

[1:57:47] first one pager. would has to be

[1:57:48] reformatted so it looks more like a

[1:57:50] newsletter, but that would satisfy the

[1:57:52] legal requirement and also be useful to

[1:57:55] people into something that can be

[1:57:56] printed out, put up as a poster on

[1:57:58] bulletin boards and start disseminating

[1:58:00] the information. So, I'm I'm happy to

[1:58:02] take on that tasks.

[1:58:04] So, now we can go back to the list of

[1:58:06] the other tasks and see if anybody wants

[1:58:09] to sign up.

[1:58:16] We have what? Uh

[1:58:20] but it's hard to for me to read from

[1:58:22] here.

[1:58:28] You got to scroll scroll back upwards.

[1:58:32] Each one of the he bold ones is a

[1:58:35] category. You see that? You should have

[1:58:38] bolded. So public mailings. What? I can

[1:58:41] hardly read those though.

[1:58:43] Can you make that a little bit bigger?

[1:58:49] Ah, here we go. Thank you.

[1:58:53] So,

[1:58:55] the categories are Oh, that says public

[1:58:57] meetings. We know we're going to do

[1:58:58] that. Uh, community display exhibit.

[1:59:01] Lisa, were you going to try something

[1:59:02] with that? Anything?

[1:59:05] >> Um, sort of. I'm working with Blake on a

[1:59:09] um bulletin board downstairs on the

[1:59:12] first floor outside the extension

[1:59:13] office.

[1:59:15] >> Um this is sort of a template. So I'll

[1:59:18] give people a copy of that. It's also um

[1:59:21] a handout that we'll put attach to the

[1:59:24] wall um where people can give their

[1:59:28] public input or we can tell them where

[1:59:31] to send it. They can either leave it

[1:59:33] with us. um that's not mobile for public

[1:59:36] display, but it's our first shot at

[1:59:39] making something for the courthouse, you

[1:59:41] know. Then we'll try something that's

[1:59:44] mobile that could maybe go to the

[1:59:45] libraries or community centers or

[1:59:48] something like that.

[1:59:50] >> Okay. So, we've got a publicly is

[1:59:52] working on public display. The next one

[1:59:54] is media releases. Erica, were you going

[1:59:56] to do something on a press release?

[1:59:59] >> Sure. Do you have a deadline for me? And

[2:00:02] I think it would be really beneficial um

[2:00:06] as I brought up I think the past two

[2:00:07] meetings if we had some sort of image to

[2:00:10] go with it if it's going to go in the

[2:00:11] newspapers. Um so if we have suggestions

[2:00:17] for an image if we want to do the tree

[2:00:21] planting thing it is coming on fall

[2:00:23] quickly now. Um,

[2:00:27] I can draft anything at any time, but if

[2:00:29] we want it to actually be read, I think

[2:00:30] we should probably put an image with it.

[2:00:36] » Um, any suggestions along that line? I

[2:00:38] don't think we're going to have a tree

[2:00:39] planting this fall. It's going to be

[2:00:40] late. You want you don't want the tree

[2:00:42] to die the next. So, we're probably

[2:00:45] that's probably not going to come about

[2:00:47] be my opinion. and everybody else thinks

[2:00:48] otherwise.

[2:00:51] You know, I don't I think planting a

[2:00:52] tree in September or October is probably

[2:00:56] reduces the chance of success for the

[2:00:58] tree. Uh Pat, you have any insight on

[2:01:01] that?

[2:01:02] >> Well, some trees you can transplant in

[2:01:04] the fall. You know, once they go

[2:01:05] dormant, you can move them, but not all

[2:01:07] species do transplanting very well in

[2:01:10] the fall. So, depend on the tree and

[2:01:12] they should be dormant.

[2:01:13] Um,

[2:01:15] but I think offhand, you know, a lot of

[2:01:17] people they think of tree planting in

[2:01:18] the spring because that's when most

[2:01:20] people do it. My gut level reaction is a

[2:01:23] lot of people might say, why are they

[2:01:24] planting a tree in the fall? Um, we

[2:01:28] might lose them just from don't they

[2:01:30] know you do that in the spring? Um,

[2:01:33] there is that bit of it. The courthouse

[2:01:36] people recognize that it just got

[2:01:38] redone.

[2:01:39] They,

[2:01:41] you know, Ashlin County, they the

[2:01:43] courthouse image has been around a long

[2:01:45] time, more than 100 years.

[2:01:48] We could put you and a few others in

[2:01:50] front with a picture.

[2:01:51] >> Yeah. I can't I can't think any other

[2:01:53] image, but you know, you can make a a a

[2:01:56] bit of news out of the idea that

[2:01:58] courthouse facade was repointed this

[2:02:02] past sum this summer and that was, you

[2:02:05] know, sort of part of planning for the

[2:02:06] future. Is there any other ideas for an

[2:02:08] image that Erica could could put with a

[2:02:10] release? Listen,

[2:02:11] >> I have one on I think it's on my

[2:02:13] Facebook page right now of the

[2:02:15] courthouse in the front. It's an aerial

[2:02:17] view. It might be from Edmond Row. Um

[2:02:20] and then you can see the city in the

[2:02:22] back and even some farmland back there.

[2:02:26] I'll link you to it. That sounds great.

[2:02:28] But that I I'm pretty sure that's on my

[2:02:31] Facebook right now

[2:02:32] >> because I think we we were thinking of

[2:02:34] doing a press release at the time of the

[2:02:36] signing of the contract with Northwest

[2:02:38] Regional Planning. If I recall,

[2:02:40] >> it was just sent to us last week. It is

[2:02:43] now fully executed and signed.

[2:02:45] >> Okay, this be timely then. Fantastic.

[2:02:51] Open house that seems down the road.

[2:02:55] Uh what Karishia has done with the

[2:02:58] planning committee page on the Ashlin

[2:03:00] County website seems to me to serve the

[2:03:03] purpose that we're looking for. Unless

[2:03:05] anybody thinks we should go beyond that,

[2:03:07] we can add a lot to this, but I think

[2:03:08] Karisha has done a really good job so

[2:03:10] far.

[2:03:31] comprehensive_planning

[2:03:35] committee.

[2:03:42] So next on the list of uh communications

[2:03:44] advice is an emailing list.

[2:03:48] I don't know if we have anybody that has

[2:03:49] a capacity or wants to work on this and

[2:03:52] I'm not sure what it would be. Any

[2:03:54] ideas?

[2:03:58] So, I think that's one where, you know,

[2:04:00] we're still pondering.

[2:04:03] Uh, next on this list was

[2:04:07] newsletter, which I've signed up for,

[2:04:10] handling written comments. We did a test

[2:04:13] of the link there. So, uh, Karisha has

[2:04:17] on the website the link to send an email

[2:04:21] comment or question in and we tested it

[2:04:23] and it goes to myself and Erica and Dan.

[2:04:26] Did you get a copy of that, Lisa? Maybe

[2:04:28] not. So, so you know, I've definitely

[2:04:30] received if someone sends in a question,

[2:04:32] Dan and Erica, but we've received none

[2:04:35] so far. But the link is there. It's on

[2:04:37] the website. All we have to say to

[2:04:38] people is, hey, the link is there. If

[2:04:40] you want to send in some input, go

[2:04:42] ahead.

[2:04:43] So that's for written comments and

[2:04:46] public hearings seem to be in our future

[2:04:48] and that is oh then we come to the

[2:04:50] survey which we've talked about which is

[2:04:53] Emily

[2:04:56] and we have the steering committee and

[2:04:58] focus groups which are basically the uh

[2:05:00] subcommittees that pretty much says

[2:05:03] we're doing almost everything that we

[2:05:05] said in our public participation plan at

[2:05:07] least in some small way. Are there

[2:05:10] comments?

[2:05:16] So,

[2:05:20] uh, social media, is social media on

[2:05:22] this list?

[2:05:24] I know we talked about it in the past.

[2:05:26] Um,

[2:05:30] I have I can show you this. I put this

[2:05:32] on my work page, an announcement of this

[2:05:35] meeting, and I'll put this on my

[2:05:38] Facebook page, and then I share it to

[2:05:39] like, I don't know, six other Ashlin

[2:05:42] based sites, Facebook pages that says,

[2:05:45] "Here's a meeting." And I think I'm

[2:05:47] going to just use that picture over and

[2:05:48] over. It's a non-copyrighted um antique

[2:05:51] postcard

[2:05:53] that I thought was really beautiful way

[2:05:56] to look at Ashlin County, but kind of

[2:05:58] use that as a Facebook mini brand, you

[2:06:01] know, so that hopefully people see that

[2:06:03] enough and they know it's Ashlin County

[2:06:05] meeting.

[2:06:11] We're going above and beyond. That's

[2:06:12] great.

[2:06:14] Uh so we can move on to um we basically

[2:06:20] have handled communication mechanism

[2:06:22] updates unless somebody has a comment on

[2:06:23] it.

[2:06:26] And we can move on to status of township

[2:06:28] and committee inputs. Um I don't think

[2:06:32] we've made any headway there. I know I

[2:06:34] haven't. But um if nobody else is

[2:06:37] interested, I can take that up. Anybody

[2:06:38] else interested in taking up the

[2:06:40] communication with the um town boards?

[2:06:45] Okay, I'll take that assignment then.

[2:06:52] And then we move on to reviewing our

[2:06:55] progress versus our columnized work

[2:06:57] plan.

[2:07:00] I think Emily, what do you think?

[2:07:12] I can pull that up for us.

[2:07:35] We have

[2:07:39] a sort of timeline by task. And I'm not

[2:07:43] so worried about

[2:07:45] the whether or not we're in within the

[2:07:47] month

[2:07:50] of the tasks, but so much the order of

[2:07:52] operations. So, we're at uh the steering

[2:07:55] committee meeting number one, the plan

[2:07:58] update overview. Uh we didn't yet get to

[2:08:00] the issues and opportunities round table

[2:08:02] because we'll focus on the survey

[2:08:04] questions first but that'll probably

[2:08:07] occur at our third meeting the review of

[2:08:09] the issues and opportunities.

[2:08:12] So, it looks like we're just on schedule

[2:08:15] and then we'll work on um the updated

[2:08:18] draft plan chapters and uh put those on

[2:08:22] to the SharePoint.

[2:08:27] » Uh discussion or comments?

[2:08:30] >> If not, we can move on to item number

[2:08:34] six, which is the second opportunity for

[2:08:37] public comment. Is there anybody online

[2:08:39] for public comment?

[2:08:42] Seeing nobody present here on road,

[2:08:43] nobody on the line, we will move on to

[2:08:46] item number seven is um committee review

[2:08:49] of public comments. There haven't been

[2:08:51] no public comments, we don't have to

[2:08:52] review any. Listen, do you have a

[2:08:53] comment?

[2:08:53] >> I'll just throw one thing out. Another

[2:08:55] project I've been working on with

[2:08:56] WMadison's

[2:08:58] community research team is um we're

[2:09:02] calling it New North, New Neighbors. And

[2:09:04] it is a project that is um interviewing

[2:09:08] people who have moved to Ashlin County

[2:09:09] since 2020 to find out where they came

[2:09:12] from and why they picked Ashlin County

[2:09:15] and why they moved and then how they're

[2:09:18] integrating in whatever community they

[2:09:20] lived in. So, it's part of a civic

[2:09:23] engagement research project. Um, we had

[2:09:27] 120 people reply, which is pretty really

[2:09:30] good for up here, but we narrowed it

[2:09:33] down to 90 or 93 actual surveys because

[2:09:36] people didn't finish or they screwed up.

[2:09:40] So, um, if anybody's interested in that,

[2:09:42] I can send it around. mainly um it's

[2:09:46] preliminary results right now, but I

[2:09:48] made a copy of one of the questions I

[2:09:50] thought you might be interested. What

[2:09:51] would you say are the biggest reasons

[2:09:53] why you decided to live in Ashlin

[2:09:55] County? And then the second one was sort

[2:09:57] of an open-ended question about what

[2:10:00] else do you want to tell us about your

[2:10:02] community that we didn't ask you? Um

[2:10:05] and there are some really fascinating

[2:10:08] things that I think could help inform

[2:10:11] this project. Um, I find one of the

[2:10:13] comments was, "I find transplants, other

[2:10:17] transplants to Ashland are a lot more

[2:10:19] welcoming and more open to connecting

[2:10:21] with new people than with long-term

[2:10:23] residents." So, they're working with

[2:10:25] each other. They're finding each other,

[2:10:27] but they're finding the long-term

[2:10:28] residents not to be that welcoming,

[2:10:30] which I think is kind of important

[2:10:32] information. Um, things that we know, we

[2:10:36] wish there was more for young people to

[2:10:37] do. It's definitely a targeted to the

[2:10:40] retirement community. Um

[2:10:44] I'm concerned about water quality. Um

[2:10:47] you need better support for people in

[2:10:49] recovery. And then some really

[2:10:52] interesting things that um I thought are

[2:10:55] what called acidbased community

[2:10:57] development. ABCD. If you have cool

[2:11:00] things in your community to live, they

[2:11:02] will come and find work. And here was an

[2:11:05] answer exactly to that. We wanted to

[2:11:07] raise our family in the country or a

[2:11:09] small town and this area has a hospital,

[2:11:12] a college, a cooperative, and a Walmart.

[2:11:15] We're very sad that Northland closed

[2:11:17] this year because the college added

[2:11:19] something to the area that cannot easily

[2:11:21] be replicated, but we were looking for

[2:11:23] community assets like this. So, I don't

[2:11:26] know if anybody's interested. I can

[2:11:28] email that to everyone when the new when

[2:11:31] the whole

[2:11:31] >> Is that something you can share with us

[2:11:33] on SharePoint

[2:11:34] >> that people

[2:11:35] >> they certainly could or um

[2:11:36] >> it sounds really relevant.

[2:11:38] >> Yeah, I think you'd enjoy um hearing

[2:11:41] their comments. I'll work with you on

[2:11:44] how to share that with everybody. Okay,

[2:11:47] thanks.

[2:11:48] >> Okay, I think we're up to other

[2:11:50] business. Do I have an attachment under

[2:11:52] other business?

[2:12:01] Yeah. Okay. Now, just scroll until you

[2:12:03] see some yellow. Okay.

[2:12:06] So,

[2:12:08] I put this in under other business. It

[2:12:10] relates to the point that Charlie raised

[2:12:13] earlier and that Pat spoke to is that

[2:12:15] this is a standing committee for

[2:12:17] planning of a for Ashlin County.

[2:12:22] And if I have it here.

[2:12:27] So I've highlighted here a lot of things

[2:12:31] that have to do with quality of life

[2:12:34] which are in the existing plan

[2:12:39] and

[2:12:41] we had a com some comments earlier

[2:12:46] as to

[2:12:48] um recreational facilities and if you I

[2:12:52] know you're probably not going to be

[2:12:53] able to read this. Can we blow this up a

[2:12:54] little bit? Can we

[2:12:57] or is it George stuck there? Yeah, just

[2:12:59] slowly scroll through and let people see

[2:13:01] what I've highlighted there. Uh maintain

[2:13:04] national resources, continue uh

[2:13:06] stewardship for the county

[2:13:09] uh resource opportunities,

[2:13:11] uh continue uh keep going.

[2:13:15] What's this one? It says investigate

[2:13:17] opportunities for providing additional

[2:13:19] camp experiences for county county

[2:13:21] youth. Keep going.

[2:13:25] Stop. Uh, develop potential for youth

[2:13:28] adult camping experiences.

[2:13:30] Go.

[2:13:32] Uh, encourage preservation and

[2:13:34] protection of environmental corridors

[2:13:36] for wildlife, water quality, values, and

[2:13:38] habitat protection. Keep going.

[2:13:42] Uh, what's this one say? Amenities

[2:13:44] consistent with county rural character.

[2:13:47] Open up the county budgeting process to

[2:13:50] engage all members of the county board.

[2:13:53] improve county infrastructure, including

[2:13:55] county facilities in order to make the

[2:13:57] county a more attractive and desirable

[2:14:00] community in which to live and start to

[2:14:02] grow a business going. So, let me get

[2:14:05] through the rest of this M. Here's one

[2:14:07] that really caught my attention. Parks.

[2:14:10] We have adequate parks according to the

[2:14:13] plan. I just found that a little bit

[2:14:15] confusing. Keep going.

[2:14:17] Uh, what's this one? Parks and open

[2:14:19] space are an objective of the existing

[2:14:22] comprehensive plan. Keep going. Oh,

[2:14:24] whoops. What did we miss there? Parks

[2:14:26] and recreation attractions in the county

[2:14:29] like the White River Wildlife Area south

[2:14:31] of Ashlin. Keep going. And this is

[2:14:34] what's interesting. These are the

[2:14:36] fastest growing economic sectors in the

[2:14:38] state of Wisconsin. The second is

[2:14:42] amusement and recreation services. So

[2:14:45] that is supporting the attractiveness of

[2:14:49] Ashlin County in terms of outdoor

[2:14:52] recreation parks and facilities is

[2:14:55] something that is in our current plan

[2:14:58] and my personal perspective is one that

[2:15:00] we have not paying enough attention to.

[2:15:03] So I've only I think that's probably the

[2:15:05] last of it. Can you scroll a little bit

[2:15:07] further? Is there any more?

[2:15:09] What does that say? Recreational trails.

[2:15:11] is the trails for recreation are an

[2:15:13] important component of local recreation

[2:15:15] opportunities. Tourism trails in the

[2:15:17] county are shown in the transportation

[2:15:19] uh section document. And I think maybe

[2:15:21] that's Oops, there's more. Yeah, keep

[2:15:24] going.

[2:15:25] Issue. There we go. Okay. Issues uh lack

[2:15:29] of recreation facilities for youth, lack

[2:15:31] of recreation facilities for teenagers,

[2:15:33] lack of recreation facilities for

[2:15:34] elderly, provision of more passive

[2:15:37] unorganized recreation opportunities.

[2:15:40] Citizens wanting more public facilities,

[2:15:42] parks and shelters, more public

[2:15:44] facilities, trails, forestry committee,

[2:15:47] and is there any more?

[2:15:50] Okay. Public access to streams. And I

[2:15:53] think that's probably the end of this.

[2:15:56] So my point is this is the existing

[2:15:59] plan. This was put in place 10 years ago

[2:16:02] and we are basically I mean we can only

[2:16:06] afford a little bit because we don't

[2:16:07] have a whole lot of extra budget but it

[2:16:09] strikes me that this is the type of

[2:16:11] thing that a standing committee should

[2:16:13] be monitoring and looking for

[2:16:16] opportunities when they might exist.

[2:16:19] Anybody want to comment or discuss the

[2:16:21] issue

[2:16:24] that

[2:16:26] some of that language in there like open

[2:16:28] up the budget process to the entire

[2:16:31] county board. There's some things in

[2:16:32] here that were in the farmland

[2:16:33] preservation plan 10 years ago too. And

[2:16:36] so I mean literally verbatim. And so I

[2:16:38] think some of what we've looked at came

[2:16:40] from farmland preservation. And I don't

[2:16:43] want to say cut and paste but some of it looks that way. but on the the the

[2:16:48] recreational opportunities that would

[2:16:50] fall under forestry the way the county

[2:16:52] is organized and so one it's really

[2:16:54] struck me my time on the board um having

[2:16:57] grown up in Bayfield County you know

[2:16:58] lots of lakes parks and recreational

[2:17:01] stuff and you get to Ashlin County it

[2:17:03] took me a while to realize you know

[2:17:05] based on data how much less you have

[2:17:08] except for access lake superior how many

[2:17:10] fewer inland lakes lack of parks

[2:17:13] relative to Bayfield County and there's

[2:17:15] a big difference in the economies there.

[2:17:17] Bayfield County because of the lakes and

[2:17:20] like double the county forest, they have

[2:17:22] a very different budget than we do.

[2:17:25] We're not going to get more lakes very

[2:17:27] easily, but we can put in more parks. U

[2:17:30] but then we have to invest in those. And

[2:17:32] so one of the things I hope I get to um

[2:17:36] on forestry is an inventory of all of

[2:17:39] the parks and trails that we have in

[2:17:41] Ashlin County regardless of which you

[2:17:44] know entity they're with, you know,

[2:17:45] city, village, you know, Copper Falls,

[2:17:47] you name it. And then look at gaps and

[2:17:49] opportunities there. So see what we can

[2:17:53] fill in. And I'm also cognizant of, you

[2:17:56] know, we have less snow on average as

[2:17:58] time goes forward and more people are

[2:18:00] using those UTVs versus snowmobiles. So,

[2:18:03] how do we connect um recreational

[2:18:07] opportunities using those trails to

[2:18:10] places where people can stay, get food

[2:18:12] and beverage, you know, etc. Um, I think

[2:18:16] we'll find there's some gaps in there,

[2:18:17] but it's going to take some investment

[2:18:19] on the front end for the county to do

[2:18:21] this. We'll have to have staff to do

[2:18:23] some maintenance. We'll have to figure

[2:18:25] out how to bring in some revenue to

[2:18:27] that. But from the budget perspective,

[2:18:31] if the county chose to make those

[2:18:33] investments, we could make some

[2:18:36] investments in that, which also means we

[2:18:38] say no to some other things. But I think

[2:18:41] we could invest and I think the data and

[2:18:44] supports making more of those

[2:18:46] investments. And I also want to let Mr.

[2:18:48] Ortman over there who's our liaison with

[2:18:50] the city on this committee know that

[2:18:53] apparently our mayor is um at times a

[2:18:56] little frustrated that some of the

[2:18:58] people who stay in Ashland as tourists

[2:19:01] don't spend in the city don't spend all

[2:19:03] of their time within the city limits.

[2:19:06] So, I told the the chamber director a

[2:19:08] week or so ago in a forum conversation,

[2:19:10] I said literally said, "Good, we're

[2:19:12] making progress." Because the data on

[2:19:14] credit card usage that I found a few

[2:19:16] years ago shows that an incredible

[2:19:18] number of the people who go to places

[2:19:20] like Copper Falls up to Meline Island

[2:19:22] and stuff, they're staying in the city

[2:19:23] of Ashley because that's where most of

[2:19:24] the rooms are. That's where a lot of the

[2:19:26] food services. It also means that when

[2:19:29] they've had a little too much in the

[2:19:30] evening, our police department gets to

[2:19:32] deal with them, you know, because that's

[2:19:34] where they're staying. They're here. But

[2:19:35] to the extent that we create more

[2:19:37] opportunities within the county, the

[2:19:39] city of Ashlin benefits too because

[2:19:41] you're getting the hotel tax and it's

[2:19:44] hotel tax is limited to the city limits.

[2:19:46] You know, if someone in Melon has, you

[2:19:49] know, a place to stay, they don't charge

[2:19:51] the hotel tax, but the city does. So, we

[2:19:54] all benefit um by doing that. But I

[2:19:58] think there is a lot of opportunity on

[2:20:00] the things that George is pointing out

[2:20:02] here. And one of which is the Maxwell

[2:20:04] property um on 118 that Northland

[2:20:07] College currently owns. And I think it

[2:20:11] would make sense for the county to take

[2:20:12] a hard look at acquiring that property

[2:20:15] and making it a a park and a campground

[2:20:18] and the recreational opportunities that

[2:20:20] could go with it. Um, so I think this is

[2:20:25] a really important point for us to think

[2:20:27] about of what we can do going forward

[2:20:29] that we haven't been doing otherwise.

[2:20:34] >> Other comment, discussion

[2:20:37] >> and I just want to say kudos to the

[2:20:39] village of Butternut for building a new

[2:20:41] campground.

[2:20:45] I I want to add um

[2:20:48] that

[2:20:50] I think the the report that Lisa

[2:20:53] mentioned about why people are moving

[2:20:55] here because it gives us a lot of

[2:20:57] insight because I think probably it

[2:20:59] shows us that people are moving here for

[2:21:01] what they deem as good quality of life.

[2:21:04] And so whatever we can do to help make

[2:21:07] this a more attractive place in terms of

[2:21:10] quality of life for people who would

[2:21:11] move here and stay here will add to the

[2:21:16] betterment of the county for all of us

[2:21:18] who live here. So

[2:21:21] that's what we're thinking about. Um

[2:21:24] we're up to item number 10 was is round

[2:21:26] the room summary comments. So uh I'm

[2:21:30] going to start with you Pat. Last

[2:21:33] comments.

[2:21:36] Boy, we got a lot of work ahead of us.

[2:21:54] » No, I'll keep it short. We just do have

[2:21:56] a lot of work ahead of us. Okay, Lisa,

[2:22:00] >> I just want to say thanks to Emily and

[2:22:02] Autumn for being here and welcome to our

[2:22:06] process and I really look forward to all

[2:22:08] the expertise you all are going to bring

[2:22:11] help us with all these processes and

[2:22:12] questions.

[2:22:15] >> You're here, Gary.

[2:22:18] >> Paul,

[2:22:21] I thought everyone was just being

[2:22:22] cynical about a three-hour meeting down

[2:22:25] to two and a half.

[2:22:29] We're we're down to two hours and 23

[2:22:31] minutes. So, we're almost there. Erica,

[2:22:34] >> nothing today.

[2:22:38] » Autumn and Enley, any

[2:22:41] >> just want to say thank you for working

[2:22:42] with us. We look forward to it.

[2:22:45] >> Okay. Last thing is to think about our

[2:22:46] next meeting in September. uh

[2:22:49] suggestions and limitations,

[2:22:53] conflicts,

[2:22:55] not 911. Okay. I will will send out a a

[2:22:59] doodle poll to see what works for

[2:23:01] people. Okay. Not include you. All

[2:23:03] right. Is there a motion to adjourn?

[2:23:08] Charlie,

[2:23:08] >> I'd like to um publicly

[2:23:12] um put our thoughts and prayers together

[2:23:15] for Minneapolis as they deal with this

[2:23:18] unimaginable

[2:23:20] tragedy with that school shooting.

[2:23:23] >> Okay.

[2:23:24] >> I just want to put that on record.

[2:23:26] >> Thank you, Liz.

[2:23:29] You have a second forjournment.

[2:23:32] » Second.

[2:23:33] >> Pass second. All in favor say I. I

[2:23:37] >> we are ajourned. Thank

Planning Committee Meeting

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