Portage County Board capsules The county's health insurance plan was a topic once again at the county board of supervisor's meeting Tuesday night. Bo DeDeker, county finance director, summarized several issues in a letter to supervisors. He said with the county's change of Plan Agent in July, 1999, the county will save $80,000 a year. Because the change was done through a bid process, DeDeker said the county will save $50,000 a year on life and disability carriers. He said $30,000 will be saved annually through the non-directed PPO. "It will not change benefit levels," county personnel director Therese Freiberg said of the change in Plan Agent. "If anything it will improve benefits." Health plan users would be able to go to the same physicians they are now, Freiberg said. DeDeker said he plans to make a big presentation on the county's health insurance plan at the board's January meeting. * * * The board denied a request to rezone four acres of land in the town of Sharon from A1, Exclusive Agricultural Zoning District to I, Industrial Zoning District. The property, on the southwest corner of Hwy. 66 and County Highway J was the site of an October fire at the Wysocki Farms potato warehouse, is owned by Russ Wysocki/L&L Enterprise. Wysocki proposed the switch, which was also denied by the planning and zoning committee, to have a 30,000 gallon capacity bulk liquid petroleum storage tank and a 16-foot-by-16-foot storage building at the site. * * * The board approved the town of Dewey's land use plan. The plan, which the Dewey town board unanimously approved in October, was made after holding 22 public meetings on the issue. Included in the plan are recommendations to: concentrate residential growth along the Interstate 39 corridor, specifically near Lake DuBay and Sunset Drive; preserve undeveloped shorelines and wetlands, through the application of conservancy zoning; set the minimum lot size at five to 10 acres in rural portions of the town; allow land owners in the five and 10-acre zoning districts to have the option of creating lots as small as two acres, provided they follow the requirements of an Open Space Design Process as defined by the yet-to-be-adopted Portage County Subdivision Ordinance. * * * The board wants the personnel committee to take a longer look at proposed adjustments to salaries of elected officials. The committee brought a resolution in front of the board that would have given five officials three percent raises for the 2001 and 2002 years. The affected offices are the sheriff ($50,645 salary in 1999, proposed $56,086 in '01 and $57,769 in '02), county clerk ($41,156 in '99, proposed $43,663 in '01 and $44,973 in '02), clerk of courts ($39,909 in '99, proposed $46,067 in '01 and $47,449 in '02), treasurer ($38,587 in '99, proposed $42,822 in '01 and $44,107 in '02) and register of deeds ($37,971 in '99, proposed $41,911 in '01 and $43,168 in '02). The board, by a 26-0 vote with one abstention, decided to refer the issue back to the committee. Supervisor Ron Borski said the committee should make salary comparisons with other counties in the state that are similar in population and tax base. * * * The board discussed the county board chair's compensation for attending meetings and although it didn't change any dollar amounts, the board briefly discussed paying the chair an annual meeting stipend instead. The chair is currently paid $50 per meeting attended and a maximum of $75 per day if more than one meeting is attended. That is the same amount all county board supervisors are paid. Chair Clarence Hintz received $11,000 so far this year, deputy county clerk Shirley Simonis said. Hintz said if the chair wants to know what's going on, that person has to go to the meetings. He said he currently spends 25 to 30 hours a week in meetings. "That's just the way it is if you want to know what's going on," Hintz said. Supervisor Jim Clark said he's been in favor of paying a flat rate instead of the per meeting charge. He said there's plenty for the chair to do in the office without going to meetings. But Supervisor Bob Steinke said the chair wouldn't have to go to the meetings to get the money. That probably wouldn't happen, but it could, said Steinke, who also had a stint as the county board chair.