Star News Editorials - Looking back on issues and opportunities in the past year

Star News

Editorials

Members of The Star News editorial board include Co-Publisher Carol O’Leary, Publisher Kris O’Leary and Editor Brian Wilson.

Each new year begins with hope.

Hope that this year will be better than the prior. Hope that lingering issues will be resolved. Hope that people will make the right choices for themselves and their communities. Hope is an inherent part of human nature, even when things seem hopeless.

Throughout the year, there are times when those hopes come to fruition. There are other times when life and circumstances get in the way. Lofty goals and ideas are set aside with the focus on making it through to see the sunrise of another day.

As 2023 is coming to a close, it is worthwhile to look back on the issues and opportunities that came about over the past year. For some of them, 2023 marked the closing chapters of long-running sagas. In others, this year was just the start with resolutions carried over into 2024 or beyond. As always, the year saw transitions and changes, untimely deaths and new beginnings.

The following is a recap of the major issues and events that sparked editorials and news coverage over the past year.

Veterans service office

For much of the past two years, the Taylor County Veterans Service Office has been making headlines for on-going rifts between department staff and the county government.

The year started with the public release of an independent investigation into allegations raised by former Veterans Service Officer Shellie Shaw. In its findings, the attorney who did the report found, as with many personnel issues, there was plenty of blame to go around. The report also made suggestions about ways the county could improve its operations to have board members less involved in the day to day running of departments.

It appeared to be more of the same with the surprise resignation of Veterans Service Officer Dan Judnic in February and the resignation of benefit specialist Nikki Sherman in May.

These actions led to the recall election in July of longtime county board member Lester Lewis despite him having been previously removed from the veterans service committee in April and a petition drive, which ultimately failed, to try to force a recall of current committee chair Cathy Lemke. Recall efforts are rare in Taylor County and the results served as a wake up call for many on county board and a reminder that they ultimately serve at the will of the voters.

Things appear to have turned a corner with the hiring of Sheila Wundrow as CVSO and Nicole Gebert as benefit specialist. They have hit the ground running in looking at ways to increase services for area veterans. This fall, the county opened the doors for a resource center space which will serve for programing as well as providing access for veterans for things like teleheath appointments.

It is time to turn county energy and focus back to ensuring veterans have access to benefits and the services they have earned.

County government

The county board started the year with the mandate to review every department for places to close budget gaps. Meetings were held and suggestions made. Some of those suggestions, such as the consolidation of the land information and surveyor’s office and a reconfiguration of the hours of the airport manager, were implemented and going forward should help streamline local government and save taxpayer money. Others provided fuel for thought about what county departments do and the resources they need to do those jobs.

While, at times, it risked becoming a witch hunt, the review process was ultimately a positive for the county, identifying some significant savings areas while also noting places that could use more investment.

This dovetailed into a push for the county to do long-term strategic planning and look at consolidation of county committees while also providing greater distribution of opportunities for leadership and involvement. If nothing else, taking time to look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and potential threats impacting an organization - whether it be a small business or a county department is a good thing to do on occasion.

One rallying point for those pushing for committee consolidation is the number of committees the county has. The reality is that not all committees are created equal. Many exist solely to meet grant requirements and others, such as mining, may go years without meeting until something such as the proposed metallic mine near Perkinstown comes along. With pushback at the full county board level pumping the brakes on the committee’s aggressive schedule, it remains to be seen what will come of the eventual plan.

The generational shift in departmental leadership has largely been completed. This had caused disruption over the past few years as leadership changed due to the retirement of longterm staff resulting in an adjustment period. Going forward, the next major adjustment will be on the county board itself as longtime members retire or are replaced. During these periods of adjustment, it is a challenge to maintain continuity.

Bowers charges

The past year also saw the settlement of the case regarding former Taylor County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Bowers’ unauthorized release of murder investigation reports to producers of a true crime television program.

The saga began in 2017 with Bowers placed on administrative leave and felony misconduct in office charges being filed by the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office, then under Attorney General Brad Schimmel. Schimmel’s motivation was to send a clear message to law enforcement in the wake of high-profile cases that reflected poorly on the state.

Taylor County taxpayers are the ones who footed the bills as the case dragged on and Bowers continued to receive his deputy pay and benefits. The heart of the state’s case against Bowers was information retrieved from his personal Dropbox data storage account which had been set up using his work email address. A major part of Bowers’ legal case was that the retrieval of this information without first getting a search warrant makes it inadmissible. Earlier this year, the court agreed and when a new assistant attorney general was assigned to the case, felony charges were quickly dismissed, finally bringing it to a close.

Education

Taylor County schools also grabbed their share of headlines over the course of the past 12 months.

One of the major developments was in Rib Lake as the school district began the process of going to referendum starting with a facilities study and well-attended public meeting sessions last spring. Rib Lake surveyed community members this fall and board members took the feedback in stride, refining and scaling back the plans they are considering. High among those are addressing functional and security needs by building a connection between the high school and middle school buildings in the district. Longterm maintenance needs are also prominent on the list of proposed projects.

Medford schools has also begun a potential referendum process. The school district’s previous attempts have been unsuccessful, but the board is looking to make a more community-centric approach to it this go-around. Longtime community leader Dave Koester is taking the helm of leading exploratory meetings and building a consensus to potentially bring a referendum to voters in fall 2024. The district administration and staff have said they will serve as resources and provide information.

Growth

Politically motivated narratives aside, Taylor County had a solid year of economic and real growth.

This sort of statement is always taken with a grain of salt, and 2023 was no different. While there was business growth, there were also setbacks such as the closing of Hardee’s, which had longtime community ties.

As positives, unemployment in the county remains significantly below historical averages and real wages continue to climb in the county.

Regional inflation rates, which had

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been driven by an influx of federal cash from COVIDera stimulus and support programs chasing too few goods and services, have been brought largely under control due to national level policy changes and interest rate increases. It remains to be seen if this will continue and what type of long-term impact it will have on local communities.

One area that saw significant increases in the past year was in property values. Overall the county saw a 24% increase in equalized property values, with the biggest gains in residential property values. Equalized value increases are driven by property sales.

Another economic positive in the county has been the continued commitment by the city of Medford to address community housing needs. City leadership had historically taken a hands-off approach when it came to promoting housing, instead focusing economic development efforts on bringing in jobs and industry. The shift, especially in today’s tight labor markets, is a recognition that employees need places to live. The city partnered with developers on a successful 64-unit apartment complex on Pep’s Drive which opened and quickly filled up over the past year. Another apartment complex is under construction on Progressive Ave. Both of these have the added benefit of bringing long-vacant city owned properties onto the tax base. The city is also working with developers to encourage the construction of duplexes and has made changes in the zoning codes to encourage residential development options.

The past year brought with it many opportunities and challenges and in many ways lived up to the hope that the year started with. There is always work to be done, but that is the task in 2024 and beyond.