MONROE - Roughly six weeks after asking former Green County Highway Commissioner Jeff Wunschel to resign, the county's Highway Committee has recommended a new man for the job.
Chris Narveson, chairman of the New Glarus Town Board, is the candidate of choice, committee chairman Ray Francois said Monday during a committee meeting. The full county board is scheduled to vote on the appointment tonight at its monthly meeting.
"I've talked to him twice and each time I talk to him I become more confident in his abilities," Francois said.
Francois moved to recommend Narveson for a two-year term to begin on Aug. 1.
According to the New Glarus Township website, Narveson takes part in 10 committees, with experience in overseeing the Plan Commission and Personnel Committee. A University of Wisconsin graduate, Narveson currently works for MSA Professional Services of Baraboo. The firm focuses on architecture, engineering, environmental, funding, planning and surveying work.
Francois said Narveson has experience in construction, management and blacktop estimates. Office Manager Tammy Mulcahy noted the candidate has worked with budgeting. Narveson has a number of ideas for improved workplace morale that the committee agreed would retain workers to the department, Francois added.
Retention of long-term and newly-hired employees appear to be main reasons for removing former commissioner Wunschel and General Superintendent Pete Koch. The pair, who together make up roughly 52 years of experience with the highway department, were dismissed following a joint meeting of the Highway Committee and the Personnel and Labor Relations Committee on May 24.
Wunschel and Koch were asked to meet with the committees individually. Each was asked to resign his position.
Initially after leaving the department, Wunschel said county officials were bothered by workers leaving and pointed to Act 10, a state law passed in 2011 that removed employee benefits such as time-specific overtime, as a driving factor in long-time employees leaving or new hires seeking out better paying positions. Wunschel and Koch both noted that no officials discussed the problem at length with them in order to create solutions.
Francois said in June that the department needed to move in a different direction, but did not note a specific plan laid out for changes. However, department managers and members of the committee Monday noted that the method of communicating problems to county officials had been lacking.
Committee member Russ Torkelson said he hoped the hiring of Narveson would help address "a number of problems that the committee didn't know about in the past."
Currently, Wendy Holmes, the department's confidential administrative assistant, has been overseeing daily operations with the help of department managers such as Engineer Tech Dan Ritschard and Patrol Superintendent Bud Strunz.
Holmes and other staff noted that problems with labor come from a lack of experienced individuals, leaving no one to train new hires on-site. Things like seal coating have to be learned in the field, Ritschard noted, which is difficult when everyone doing the work had not worked at the department the previous year.
County board supervisors meet at 7 p.m. in the county board room of the Green County Courthouse.
Chris Narveson, chairman of the New Glarus Town Board, is the candidate of choice, committee chairman Ray Francois said Monday during a committee meeting. The full county board is scheduled to vote on the appointment tonight at its monthly meeting.
"I've talked to him twice and each time I talk to him I become more confident in his abilities," Francois said.
Francois moved to recommend Narveson for a two-year term to begin on Aug. 1.
According to the New Glarus Township website, Narveson takes part in 10 committees, with experience in overseeing the Plan Commission and Personnel Committee. A University of Wisconsin graduate, Narveson currently works for MSA Professional Services of Baraboo. The firm focuses on architecture, engineering, environmental, funding, planning and surveying work.
Francois said Narveson has experience in construction, management and blacktop estimates. Office Manager Tammy Mulcahy noted the candidate has worked with budgeting. Narveson has a number of ideas for improved workplace morale that the committee agreed would retain workers to the department, Francois added.
Retention of long-term and newly-hired employees appear to be main reasons for removing former commissioner Wunschel and General Superintendent Pete Koch. The pair, who together make up roughly 52 years of experience with the highway department, were dismissed following a joint meeting of the Highway Committee and the Personnel and Labor Relations Committee on May 24.
Wunschel and Koch were asked to meet with the committees individually. Each was asked to resign his position.
Initially after leaving the department, Wunschel said county officials were bothered by workers leaving and pointed to Act 10, a state law passed in 2011 that removed employee benefits such as time-specific overtime, as a driving factor in long-time employees leaving or new hires seeking out better paying positions. Wunschel and Koch both noted that no officials discussed the problem at length with them in order to create solutions.
Francois said in June that the department needed to move in a different direction, but did not note a specific plan laid out for changes. However, department managers and members of the committee Monday noted that the method of communicating problems to county officials had been lacking.
Committee member Russ Torkelson said he hoped the hiring of Narveson would help address "a number of problems that the committee didn't know about in the past."
Currently, Wendy Holmes, the department's confidential administrative assistant, has been overseeing daily operations with the help of department managers such as Engineer Tech Dan Ritschard and Patrol Superintendent Bud Strunz.
Holmes and other staff noted that problems with labor come from a lack of experienced individuals, leaving no one to train new hires on-site. Things like seal coating have to be learned in the field, Ritschard noted, which is difficult when everyone doing the work had not worked at the department the previous year.
County board supervisors meet at 7 p.m. in the county board room of the Green County Courthouse.