Approves budget guidelines for 2022

At its monthly meeting June 22, the Pierce County Board approved a proclamation to recognize Pierce-Pepin Cooperative Services for its contributions toward the health and welfare of Pierce County citizens Thanks to PPCS opening their facility, Pierce County Public Health was able to complete more than 2,600 COVID-19 tests there from October 2020 to May 2021. PPCS also hosted 10 vaccine clinics from December 2020 to February 2021 at which public health officials administered 1,200 doses of the vaccine to 600 people.

“Public health officials would not have been able to host drive-through testing and vaccinations during the cold winter months, together with a strong case surge, if not for the grateful benevolence of PPCS and its staff,” the proclamation states.

County’s 2022 budget The Pierce County Board also approved the guidelines for the county’s 2022 budget. The budget itself has yet to be approved, but the guidelines needed to be established before the 2021-23 State Biennial Budget goes into effect on July 1, 2021.

The total budget for Pierce County sits around $40 million and the county tax levy portion for 2021 was $20,110,496, funding of which went into capital equipment/improvements, special projects, debt service fund, etc.

The Pierce County Finance and Personnel Committee recommended to the board to increase property taxes based on the maximum allowable levy that the State of Wisconsin can allow. This is based on net new construction. The recommendation is being made as the county does not have the opportunity to go back and utilize any unused levy from following years. Committees are being asked to work toward a common budget goal of 0 percent since the county receives about $175,962 in new money for county needs.

Other considerations when planning the annual budget will be the American Rescue Plan Act, COVID-19 effects, the county sales tax, health insurance rates (which will be set in July by Finance & Personnel), retirement rates (which the state will determine in July), and new personnel requests.

County positions proposed

The County Board began discussions on resolutions for hiring Day. The Rassbach Museum will be open to the public for free 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (donations gladly accepted). Beat the heat with a free indoor screening of “The Sandlot” at 5 p.m. at Holtby Hall.

Hot dogs, sandwiches, snacks, root beer floats, pop, water and beer will be available for purchase. Raffle prizes will be awarded. After the movie, spread your blanket and set up your chairs to watch the fireworks.

The Menomonie Area Chamber & Visitor Center will host Independence Day fireworks at sundown July 3 over Lake Menomin.

Prime viewing locations can be found at business.menomoniechamber.org/events

Red Wing 4th of July, Red Wing, Minn.

Volunteer organization Mississippi Allumination will put on a fireworks show at 10 p.m. at Memorial Park (315 W. Fourth St., Red Wing, Minn.) View them from the banks of the Mississippi River, from a park, from atop a bluff or in your boat at the marina. Any downtown vantage point should have a good view.

Tainter Lake Boat Parade, Menomonie

The 20th annual Tainter Lake Boat Parade is a free event for all ages. The public is welcome to watch or participate. Anyone can decorate their boat and follow along or watch from shore at Elk Point at 1:10 p.m. (N8535 618th St., Colfax) or at 1:45 p.m. at Jake’s Supper Club (E5690 County Road D, Menomonie). Parade is weather pending.

For more information, contact Martin Baumgartner at 715235-7998.

Town Celebration, Spring Valley

Join the Spring Valley Chamber of Commerce and American Legion for a day full of old-fashioned summer fun Sunday, July 4. Summer baseball kicks things off with games at 1 p.m. (third and fourth grade boys), 3 p.m. (fifth and sixth grade boys), 5 p.m. (seventh and eighth grade boys) and 7:30 p.m. (Legion Team vs. Legion Parents). The Chamber and Legion will serve hot dogs, brats, kettle corn, pop, water and Gatorade; Summer Baseball will serve walking tacos and root beer floats; and the Legion Auxiliary will provide yummy baked goods. Spring Valley Royalty will offer glow sticks, and fireworks will begin at 9:45 p.m. at the football field.

a public health position and sheriff’s office position for 2021, but did not authorize the positions at this meeting.

Neither of these positions will provide new costs for Pierce County in 2021. The funding for the public health position, a COVID-19 lead investigator, will be received from federal grant funds through the state government. These funds are available through October 2022, and may be extended. The estimated annual salary is about $86,000.

The sheriff’s office position will be paid from an existing position that has been vacant in 2021.

The public health position is not a new position, but a consolidation of part-time positions that have been held by retired nurses, college students, and community volunteers who have been helping PCPH in contact tracing COVID-19 over the past year.

“While we are so grateful, these folks want to go back to their retirement, their garden, their grandchildren, and students will be going back to school in the fall,” a memo to the County Board stated. “Sustaining a staff member is easier to do when offering a full-time position with benefits rather than part-time positions with no benefits. It will also allow our public health nurses some time to go back to programs we have had to scale down in the last year, like blood lead, maternal and child health, prenatal care coordination and mental health.”

The position would be full-time with benefits and would primarily take on the role of COVID-19 contact tracing. Other roles this position will have are managing incoming COVID19 cases, assigning correct cases status, conducting disease investigations by contacting cases, working with cases to identify potential close contact exposure, determining risk levels, educating contacts on quarantine, answering questions posed by cases and contacts, acting as a liaison for workplaces and schools to notify them of cases, among many other things.

State law and administrative code requires the health department to follow up on all Category 1 and 2 communicable diseases, as determined by the state epidemiologist, within 24 hours. This is based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Public Health Association, the American Academy for Pediatrics and the state epidemiologist.

When a COVID case is reported to the health department through Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS), a public health nurse or someone trained in disease investigation must call the case and interview them to understand where they might have gotten COVID-19, identify if they have healthcare or resource needs, educate them on quarantine isolation, conduct contact tracing, and provide other support. If unable to be reached by phone, a letter is sent, unless they are considered to be in a high-risk situation.

The health department also tracks symptoms and provides release paperwork from isolation, which helps people return to work or school.

According to a May 6 memo from Pierce County Human Resources Manager Allison Preble to the Board of Health, Pierce County would be the first Wisconsin county to add a COVID-19 investigation lead to the COVID-19 team.

The sheriff’s office is looking to add a corrections officer, with an estimated $84,000 per year salary, to replace a temporary vacancy (due to a U.S. National Guard mission). However, down the road when the temporary vacancy is complete, the sheriff’s office would like to keep both positions since it has fallen below minimum staffing levels.

Other business:

County Treasurer Kathy Fuchs was appointed to the Joint Review Board for the villages of Ellsworth, Elmwood and Spring Valley.