GREEN COUNTY BOARD
In other business at Tuesday's Green County Board meeting:
• All supervisors but Gordon Klossner approved a resolution opposing modifications to state laws governing the foreign ownership of land in Wisconsin. Current law prevents a foreign corporation from owning more than 640 acres of land (except for farming) and prohibits foreign individuals from owning land in Wisconsin unless they live here.
The resolution concluded that "foreign ownership of land would have a negative impact on farmland in Green County ... and farming has remained a backbone of the Green County and Wisconsin economy."
Klossner argued the resolution would make no difference and only "draw attention to ourselves."
• Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution to continue including a $5 surcharge on document recording fees. This money will go toward the Land Record Modernization Programs.
• Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution to increase the Solid Waste Management Board to 11 members from nine members, to allow for adding as permanent members the chair of the Monroe Board of Public Works and the Monroe Common Council president.
• Paul Barrett, president of the Green County Humane Society, gave a "thank you" presentation to the supervisors, unveiling the new shelter just north of Monroe at the Pleasant View Complex off Wisconsin 81.
The project, completed this spring, was feasible thanks to more than $1 million in donations and through a $1-per-year, 99-year lease with the county for the land at Pleasant View.
The previous shelter, sandwiched between 7th Avenue and a nearby truck loading dock, was "dirty, dour, damp, drafty and depressing," said John Baumann, Colony Brands CEO and co-chair of the capital campaign for the new facility.
Barrett said the old shelter's failings were that it was cramped, stressful for the animals, hot in the summer and so cold and poorly insulated in the winter that water dishes for the dogs would freeze.
A drain would also regularly freeze in the winter, Barrett said, "and I would have to chop frozen urine water off the floor."
The new facility is secluded, spacious and more comfortable for the animals, Barrett said. Already it has impressed visitors from the Dane County Humane Society and other nearby humane societies looking for ideas on how to update their own facilities.
Regardless of the terrible tragedy to the west of us, he said - alluding to the recent triple homicide just across the border in Lafayette County - random crime is not a major problem in this area.
"Our biggest threat is domestic violence. This is where people get hurt," he said. "Anger and alcohol are responsible almost every time."
Domestic violence cases are continuing to climb, according to the 2012 annual report Skatrud presented. Deputies responded to 68 domestic disputes last year, compared to 60 in 2011.
"These cases tear apart households, expose family members to physical, emotional and financial distress, and each call represents a huge threat to law enforcement due to the emotionally charged state of those involved," he wrote in the report.
Burglaries are also on the rise.
"We continue to believe the majority of the burglaries are heroin-related," Skatrud said. His department also investigated two heroin overdose deaths last year.
Highlights of 2012 for the sheriff's department include an estimated savings of $89,045 from electronic monitoring. More than 1,600 jail inmate days were spent on the monitoring program that allows some inmates to serve their sentences at home.
The jail population continues to be right at or just below capacity.
"Someday we're going to have to plan on a bigger facility," he said. But for now, he added, the jail is big enough.
Other 2012 numbers from Skatrud's report:
• The department handled 12,119 incidents, 421 more than the previous year.
• Patrol deputies warned more than they cited. There were 2,185 warnings and 2,074 traffic citations.
• The kitchen staff served 55,551 inmate meals. This includes sack lunches for working inmates.
• Deputies responded to 668 traffic crashes. Seven people died in six crashes, five of which were on Wisconsin 11/81 between Lumberyard Road, east of Juda, and County G.