Notes from the Administrator

The Campus Redevelopment Project Open House was on Thursday, March 12. It was well attended and ideas were shared with Short Elliott and Hendrickson (SEH) about the future of the campus. SEH has distributed a Request for Interest (RFI) to gauge interest from parties on what they see could be developed on the property.

The study on the future of the Ambulance Service for the community has been completed. There were four recommendations provided. Two are about the creation of a district and two are about countywide service.

If a district were created, the 12 participating municipalities would work together and jointly oversee the service. They could do this in one of two ways. The first would be to take on the responsibility of the county and oversee the day-to-day operations of the existing service. All operational and capital expenses would be responsibility of the district. The second option would be for the district to contract a third-party provider to provide the service to the community. The district would be responsible for paying the provider and engaging in contract negotiations with them. If a district was created, there would not be any county involvement in the provision of ambulance service moving forward.

The other two options are based on the creation of a countywide ambulance service. This does not equal one service for the entire county. The county would be responsible for providing direct operations of all governmental emergency medical responses in the county, providing supplemental services, or only providing administrative and financial services. One advantage of a countywide service is that it allows the county to levy outside of the levy limit to fund all emergency medical response throughout the county. This is something that is done in 14 other counties across the state.

If a countywide service is created, the county has two options. The first is to continue to provide the service of the Richland Ambulance Service to the 12 participating municipalities and then provide a stipend to the other services in the county. The second option is the county would contract with a third-party provider to provide services to the area Richland County Ambulance Service currently serves and then have contracts with the other providers in the county.

The county board has two major decisions to make regarding the ambulance service soon. The first is if the county will continue the service and the second is if the county should levy outside the levy limit to fund a countywide emergency medical system. The Executive and Finance Committee has been discussing one or both these topics since October and the Board has been informed that something needs to be different in the future as what we are doing now is not working. Costs continue to rise, equity in the service continues to decline and parties are at a point where they no longer have the ability to increase the amount they contribute. Over the past three years (2023, 2024, and 2025) we show an average deficit of $114,000. This is not sustainable.

The County Facilities Ad Hoc Committee is nearing the end. Thus far, the committee has heard from all Departments throughout the county their concerns surrounding their current space and future space, structural and safety needs. There are two meetings left with the goal of putting the final plan together. It has been found there are over 75 items to be reviewed and prioritized.

Our UW Extension staff moved in March from Melvill Hall to the Community Services Building. This move was needed as the school district is buying Melvill Hall. Stop over and visit them in their new space.

At the March full county board meeting there was a resolution passed requesting information regarding the potential 765 KV transmission line development by Transource LLC. This resolution is the county board asking for more information about the line that may be going through Richland County. This is a topic that will continue to be discussed at future meetings and as more information is gathered.

The March meeting also passed a resolution proclaiming April 2026 as Missing Person Awareness Month. Currently there are 224 missing people and 62 unidentified people associated with Wisconsin.

On April 1, the county took conditional acceptance of the Tower System. This is a project that the county has been working on for the past 4 years. This project has included radio and tower upgrades, improvements and equipment acquisition. In the end, we have a system that our law enforcement uses to communicate most effectively across the county. The final acceptance will occur in August, when testing will occur when the foliage is at its peak.