1. Remember that you work for and are responsible to your constituents. You do not work for or report to the Chair or Vice Chair of the Board, the County Administrator, or the County Clerk.
2. Administrator Leonhard works for the entire Board, not just the Chair and/or the Executive Committee, despite what some County Organizational Chart may show. If Kurt Gibbs tries to tell the Board (as he did in 2022) that Board Supervisors can only contact Administrator Leonhard through the Chair or through the Executive Committee, don’t accept that arrangement.
3. Do your own research on Open Meetings Law and Public Records Law. I will provide a blog post in the near future with some places to start your research. In my opinion, a substantial amount of OML/PRL information provided during the 2022 to 2024 term was misleading and/or overly cautious. I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice.
4. In my opinion based on personal experience, Clerk Trueblood is on “Team Gibbs”. If you cross or challenge Kurt Gibbs, expect to receive the wrath of Clerk Trueblood. Embrace it and move on.
5) If you think you might want access to an email after you leave the Board, forward it to a personal email account. You should not expect to have access to your email after you are no longer on the Board, even though you are the legal Custodian of your email records.
6) Don’t hesitate to ask Corporation Counsel for legal advice. Also, remember that he is human and that he reports to Administrator Leonhard.
7) If (when) Administrator Leonhard says”I don’t want to tell you what to do” and/or “It is ultimately the Board’s decision”, please expect an upcoming sales pitch.
All of the preceding advice is solely my opinion. I hope it provides value, but ultimately it is your responsibility to follow or ignore it.
References
https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/59/iv/42
(b) In any county with a county executive or county administrator, the county executive or county administrator shall have the authority to appoint and supervise the corporation counsel if the board authorizes the establishment of the office of corporation counsel. Such appointment shall be subject to confirmation by the board unless the board, by ordinance, elects to waive confirmation or unless the appointment is made under a civil service system competitive examination procedure established under s. 59.52 (8) or ch. 63. The corporation counsel may be removed by the county executive or county administrator with the concurrence of the board unless the corporation counsel is appointed under such an examination procedure