County Board approves appointments, puts campus HVAC project on hold

The Barron County Board of Supervisors had one of its shortest meetings in a long time Monday evening, approving reorganizational committee appointments and replacing members on two other boards. The vote was 26 yes, two no and one absent.

Supervisor Fran Langman, who was one of the no votes, questioned why the recommendation was to expand the Law Enforcement Committee by two and fill it with two freshman supervisors.

“We try to reorganize the best we can,” replied County Board Chair Louie Okey, who worked with County Administrator Jeff French in making the appointments based on supervisors’ preferences and experience. “It’s not an easy process, and not everyone is happy. It’s not perfect, but that’s the way it happens.”

Supervisor Peter Olson, who had served on the Solid Waste Board for many years, said, “I was not happy to leave to make room for Mr. Langman to serve, but I understand; it’s a tough call.”

Supervisor Bill Schradle thanked Olson for all his input on the Solid Waste Board over the past years.

The new committee appointments can be viewed on the county’s website.

In other news, French informed the board that only one bid came in for the replacement of the heating and air conditioning system at UW-Eau Claire — Barron County, which it had hoped to get done this summer.

Although the Property Committee has not met yet to discuss it, the consensus among French and Maintenance Director Steve Olson is to rebid it in the fall and hold off on the project until 2025.

“We’re not going to be fixing that campus this year,” French said. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed that nothing blows up over there.”

After the meeting, Olson said the lone bid came in from Badger State Mechanical.

In other business, the County Board:

• Approved rezoning requests in the towns of Chetek and Clinton.

• Added an additional 900 feet to the county’s ATV/UTV routes so it extends to all resorts in the route’s vicinity.

The County Board’s next meeting is June 17. It approved pushing back its July meeting from the 15th to the 22nd.