Local Government Center News

Every city, town and village must conduct a board of review every year.  The board of review is a quasi-judicial body responsible for reviewing objections by property owners of their assessed property valuation and making a decision based upon the evidence presented.   Wisconsin law requires that at least one member of the municipal board [...]

Each year, Carol Doran of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue would travel around the state and put on free half-day workshops for town clerks about how to complete their Form CT financial report.  With Carol’s retirement and no replacement yet in position, there will be no live workshops this year.  Carol did conduct a WisLine [...]

March 12, 2012 ,Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess found Wisconsin’s Act 23, the Voter ID law, in violation of the right to vote under the Wisconsin Constitution, and permanently enjoined its enforcement.  In another case ,on March 6, Dane County Judge David Flanagan entered a preliminary injunction halting implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 23. [...]

A lawsuit challenging whether a town without a zoning ordinance could license and regulate non-metallic mining was decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on February 8, 2012.  The Town of Cooks Valley claimed its ordinance was enacted under its police powers as an exercise of town village powers.  Zwiefelhofer and other land owners in the [...]

The January 2012 cover story of Wisconsin Counties Magazine, the monthly publication of the Wisconsin Counties Association, is the 100th Anniversary of University of Wisconsin Extension.  Sharing the limelight with Extension is an article focusing on the 20th anniversary of the Local Government Center.  Written by former Center Director, Professor Emeritus David Hines, the article [...]

An opportunity for detailed instruction on critical  subjects for local officials and staff is now available in CD bundles.  The live programs of  Open Government and Parliamentary Procedure WisLine Series are now completed.  But materials and recordings of the programs are always available.  You can choose programs on Open Meetings Law, and Public Records, Public [...]

It frequently happens at meetings.  Now does not seem the time to discuss or act on an issue.  But there the issue is ready for you on your meeting agenda.  Do you move to table, postpone or something else?  What is the difference?    We asked Professor Larry Larmer, Local Government Center Outreach Specialist and authority [...]

You all know that the Open Meetings Law requires at least 24 hour notice before a meeting of a governmental body.  But do you recall that Wis. Stat. §990.001(4)(a)says, “when the time within which an act is to be done …is expressed in hours the whole of Sunday and of any legal holiday, from midnight [...]

It is easy to say “cut the budget,” but actual expenditure reductions that are effective and good policy are much more difficult. “Performance Measurement” is a becoming an increasingly useful tool that provides policy makers with the information they need to find the strengths of local government programs, and identify services are not performing up [...]

November 9, 2011, a WisLine teleconference on plan commission roles and responsibilities begins the 2011-2012 Local Government Center’s Local Land Use Planning and Zoning WisLine series.  Land Use Specialist, Rebecca Roberts and Attorney Richard Nordeng will present “Plan Commission Conduct and Procedure.”   This first session is a primer on the business of plan commissions that [...]