Vilas County Economic Development, Tourism, & UW-Extension committee reviewed a letter from the Dean and Director of UW Extension as a follow-up to the county board 13-5 June vote to end the current state-county contract for Extension services on August 23 and created a subcommittee to begin a dialog on future connections, if possible.
UW-Extension Dean and Director Karl Martin's letter to all county board supervisors pointed out the ramifications of cancelling the contract. -Layoff, reduce, or reassign current staff with the indication all of them can't be reassigned. When asked, only Chris Stark has tenure and is assured continued employment in some manner with Extension. All county-based Extension programming serving individuals, families communities, and partners will cease and all educational programs scheduled beyond August 23 will be cancelled.
Master Gardener volunteers will no longer have Extension supervision or be covered by insurance.
Dean Martin was blunt in his assessment writing “without county funding we will pull back our state funds and reallocate them elsewhere” adding “we cannot fully fund our Extension staff . . . (since) our model relies on county partners to provide staff support, office space, supplies, and mileage for educational services.”
Finally, Martin asks for Vilas County to be aware of the impact of their action and to reconsider, offering to engage in further dialog before August 23.
Extension spokesperson Art Lersch indicated Extension is open for dialog. “We welcome dialog but we can't change our fee structure,” Lersch said. “Further, we need some guarantee for us to go into a contract for 2021 and if there is no information for 2021, any 2020 discussion becomes moot.”
Vilas County corporation counsel Jack Albert indicated “although the board action was for 2020 there is no bar to talk about 2021.” Committee member supervisor Jay Verhulst indicated the meetings “will have to show us positive ;that Vilas provides free office space which is substantial."
Supervisor Carolyn Ritter noted with the COVID-19 situation “our county sales tax in down, some existing businesses are folding, yet we have to provide cetain services so it's not an easy decision.”
A four person subcommittee will be created to have a dialog with Extension on any future contract. The committee members will by Holly Tomlanovich and Jay Verhulst. Two more members will be appointed from the county Finance Committee. Their first meeting is scheduled for July 16.
