Administrator: WTCO needs new emphasis

Rather than close Trempealeau County’s public access television studio, the county administrator proposes to reshape it into a medium to promote the county.

Administrator Rebecca Glewen told the board of supervisors Monday that the county needs to focus on growing its economic base in the face of stagnant population growth and tax base.

“We have to put things into place to do the hard work of economic development,” Glewen said. “We need to have strategies if you want economic development to happen. If not, we’re waiting around for handouts that are not coming.”

The county’s estimated .72 percent new net construction increase in 2023 “is not good,” Glewen said. 

She said WTCO television could be an element in a more engaging online presence for county communications and promotions. Following Glewen’s announcement last week that she was proposing to eliminate the station’s staff and its existing programming, several supervisors said they had received calls and emails in support of the station and its format. 

The television station’s $167,000 budget would be better spent on a communication and media position focused on county promotion, Glewen is proposing.

“We can’t justify two positions that focus on long recordings and editing that no one watches,” Glewen said. She said the station’s two employees, whose jobs would be eliminated, can apply for the new communications position.

The current WTCO programming is for the “one percent” and that number is declining, she said. She said the station duplicates broadcasts produced by others and staff spend time editing programs “no one is watching.”

The station needs a new focus to reach a “wider and younger audience,” she said.

“There are as few as five people watching at one time. The highest number was 55 for a church service,” Glewen said. “Instead of a half an hour show about fishing that a few people are watching we want a few minutes about fishing that 1,000 people are watching.”

Changes to the television station would be a part of the 2025 budget which also includes no new positions that are not funded by grants, several reclassifications to reflect an individual’s work and higher pay for positions that are now not competitive. 

“My emphasis is on existing staff, our greatest resource,” Glewen said.

In addition to the two television station positions, Glewen has proposed eliminating the county’s share of the salaries of two University of Wisconsin Extension service staff members.

Supervisors also heard some of the options available to the county should it decide to borrow $7 million annually for roads and bridges and other capital projects. Brian Reilly of the county’s financial advisors, Ehlers, said borrowing could be shaped to ease the increase in property tax rates, “though there is no free lunch,” he said.

District Attorney John Sacia told the board that his office’s workload is comparable to previous years except for cases involving children in need of protective services. Sacia said the county’s department of human services’ decision to participate in a state Families First pilot program has cut the number of instances where the county takes legal action to remove a child from a home.

“I checked with comparable counties like Clark, which is part of Families First, and it had nine cases, and Jackson, which is not part of the program, and where have been 35 protective services cases,” Sacia said. “It’s good to keep kids in their home but we can’t ignore their safety.”

He said 12 child protection cases have been referred to his office so far this year.

 “We’ll have to wait for the numbers to see what they tell us about whether the (Families First) interventions are working or whether we still need the more formal accountability of legal action,” Sacia said.

Supervisor Jeanne Nutter said county staff who work with children said “Safety is a priority. Children are not left in unsafe homes.”

Sheriff Brett Semingson said the new county jail is generating about $20,000 monthly in revenue from housing other inmates from other counties, a sharp reversal from Trempealeau County’s previous need to pay roughly $250,000 annually to house inmates elsewhere. The jail is housing typically around 500 inmates, Semingson said in his quarterly report to the board.

Semingson said the dispatch department has finally received its new 911 equipment and may be able to move into its new quarters in the justice center by the end of the year.

He also noted that while all but two townships in the county and the county itself allow UTVs and ATVs on their roads, there have been no accidents or complaints. The one fatal UTV accident in the county occurred off-road, he said.