County extends parcel mapping services contract
By Alexa Zoellner azoellner@dailyunion.com | Posted: Wednesday, May 9, 2018
JEFFERSON — The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday extended an existing contract with a Minnesota firm for additional parcel mapping services, with a total project cost of $59,999.50.
Pro-West and Associates, Walker, Minn., first was awarded the contract in May 2016 as the lowest responsible bidder at a cost of $8.85 per parcel. The contract was extended in April at the same price.
On Tuesday, the contract was extended a third time at a slightly higher fee of $9.25 per parcel for an additional 6,486 parcels. The price is 29 percent lower than the next-lowest bid of $13, which was submitted in 2016.
“They’ve been doing a great job for our Land Information Office,” County Administrator Ben Wehmeier said of Pro-West after the meeting. “When we originally went out for bid, it was a pretty big separation between the next-lowest bid, and that price continued to be the lowest bid when we reached back out. So they have the experience, they know how we operate — which is hugely helpful in terms of efficiencies — so we decided to keep going on with that company and continue to make savings.”
Digital parcel maps delineating land ownership are a key component of the Jefferson County Geographic Information System (GIS). The information is used by the general public and real estate professionals including assessors, appraisers, title searchers, land surveyors and attorneys along with local, state and federal officials.
The digital parcel maps for the rural areas of Jefferson County were automated in the early 1990s by digitizing hand-drawn maps and transforming the coordinate data to the Public Land Survey System grid. However, the digitizing and transforming process resulted in some horizontal positional inaccuracies that are evident when overlaying the digital parcel lines over orthophotography.
The parcel map improvement project integrates property surveys, orthophotography and other survey data to increase the accuracy of the county’s digital parcel maps.
The project is funded in the 2018 budget through a Wisconsin Land Information Program Strategic Initiative Grant of $50,000 and non-tax levy Land Information Program retained fees of $9,999.50. All of the funds are derived from a portion of Register of Deeds document recording fees.
Committee assignments
The board announced the following county board committee assignments, the majority of which are appointed by the chairperson. Unless otherwise noted, assignments are for a two-year term ending April 21, 2020. There might be additional members of committees who are not members of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors who are not listed.
Building and Grounds Committee: Greg David, District 3; Gregg Patrick, District 26; Laura Payne, District 16; Mary Roberts, District 29; and Alyssa Spaanem, District 24.
Community Action Coalition: Kirk Lund, District 14.
Economic Development Consortium (JCEDC): Richard Jones, District 1, ending April 20, 2021; Jim Mode, District 20, ending April 30, 2019; and Amy Rinard, District 9, ending April 30, 2020.
Executive Committee (previously Administration and Rules Committee): James Braughler, District 5; Mode; Steven Nass, District 15; Rinard; and Jim Schroeder, District 19.
Fair Park Committee: Peter Hartz, District 12; Conor Nelan, District 27; Blane Poulson, District 22; Spaanem; and Brandon White, District 18.
Finance Committee: George Jaeckel, District 23; Jones; Nelan; Russell Kutz, District 17; and Rinard.
Highway Committee: John Kannard, District 21; Donald Reese, District 11; Dick Schultz, District 28; Michael Wineke, District 8; and Lloyd Zastrow, District 10.
Historic Sites Preservation Council: Ed Morse, District 13; Payne; and Schultz.
Home Consortium Board: Kannard; Kutz; and Wineke.
Human Resources Committee: Braughler; Lund; Patrick; Payne; and Wineke.
Land and Water Conservation Committee: Walt Christensen, District 30; Matthew Foelker, District 25; Daniel Herbst, District 6; Mike Kelly, District 2; and Morse.
Law Enforcement/Emergency Management Committee: Braughler; David; Lund; Dwayne Morris, District 7; and White.
Marsh Country Health Alliance: Mode.
Parks Committee: Morse; Nass; Patrick; Augie Tietz, District 4; and Zastrow.
Planning and Zoning Committee: Foelker; Jaeckel; Nass; Poulson; and Reese.
Solid Waste/Air Quality Committee: David; Hartz; Reese; Spaanem; and Schultz.
University Extension Education Committee: Herbst; Kannard; Kelly; Roberts; and Zastrow.
WI County Utility Tax Association: Christensen.
Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission: Kannard, ending April 30, 2021; Roberts, ending April 30, 2020; and Tietz, ending April 30, 2019.
Other assignments outside of county board committees include:
Human Services Board: Jones, Tietz, Kutz and Mode.
Bridges Federated Library System: Morris.
Criminal Justice Collaborating Council: Morris.
Library Board: Morris.
Aging and Disability Resource Center Advisory Committee (ADRC): Kutz.
Intercounty Coordinating Committee (ICC): Schroeder.
Workforce Development Board of South Central WI: Schroeder.
Blue Spring Lake Management District: Poulson.
Lower Spring Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District: Poulson.
Board of Health: Schultz.
Lake Ripley Management District: Christensen.
Land Information Council: Nass.
Other business
The board also:
• Recognized the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the police departments of Jefferson, Fort Atkinson, Whitewater, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Palmyra, Lake Mills, Waterloo, Johnson Creek and Watertown for placing drug drop-off boxes in their lobbies for easy drug disposal and access for their residents.
• Recognized outgoing Supervisors Ron Buchanan and Gary Kutz.
Buchanan served as District 6 supervisor from April 1992 to April 2000 and from April 2002 to April 2018. Kutz served as District 30 supervisor from April 2016 to April 2018.