Supervisor wants rich minutes for historians

The Marathon County Board of Supervisors Rules Review Committee will review the county board’s procedures for taking minutes after a Wausau supervisor on Thursday complained that the current procedure fails to give future historians enough information about county board debates.

County corporation counsel Michael Puerner told supervisors that both he and the Wisconsin Counties Association recommended that county board minutes record board action, but not board discussion. He said this record was more accurate and less subjective.

“Minutes should be about what the county board did, not what was said,” he advised.

Wausau supervisor Gary Gisselman argued, however, that county board meetings may not be covered by the media and that the minutes should be rich enough in detail to provide a historical record of board debates. He said he understood that the county was recording board meetings, but he questioned whether YouTube recordings of meetings would be available to historians 50 years from now.

Supervisor Tony Sherfinski, Schofield, said Gisselman had a point. He questioned whether digital recordings of county board proceedings would still be watchable a century from now.

County board chairman Kurt Gibbs said that the county stored compact discs of all county board and standing committee meetings. He noted that the clerk’s office publishes a compendium of written minutes each year.

Craig McEwen, Schofield, who chairs the county’s Rules Review Committee, said his committee would further discuss Gisselman’s concerns.