Public allowed involvement in law enforcement hirings

The public will have a voice in the hiring of law enforcement in Shawano County.

Members of the Shawano County Board of Supervisors approved changing the ordinance to allow the Shawano County Sheriff the ability to include two members of the public when filling each open position. The vote was 21-4.

“For each position being filled, the sheriff shall determine the individuals comprising what is known in this ordinance as the Examining Authority who shall conduct the interviews in conjunction with the Human Resources Department and the Department of Administration,” reads the updated ordinance. “The Examining Authority shall contain at least one member of the Public Safety Committee, and the sheriff may include two members of the public.”

Supervisor Deb Noffke brought up a question regarding the language in the ordinance.

“The language that we are adding, ‘and the sheriff may include two members of the public’ — the way it read before, we could have done that anyways,” said Noffke. “What’s the difference? Because it does not say that they all have to be board members. They only thing it says is that one of them has to be a member of the public safety.”

Shawano County Administrative Coordinator James Davel said that when the county spoke with an attorney, the suggestion was made to clean up the language of the ordinance and to get it to be as close to accurate as possible.

“That’s why that was added,” said Davel. “That was his recommendation to add those specific words.”

Noffke also asked if the public members would be paid for this.

Davel responded saying in past experiences, the public members were not paid.

“They were volunteers that came,” said Davel.

After Noffke asked if they should be paid, Davel said that it should be discussed in a separate committee meeting.

Chair Thomas Kautza said that if the public members are happy to come and not get paid, that is good.

Noffke expressed concerns for getting people to participate.

“It is hard to get people to step forward,” said Noffke.

Kautza advised the public to call the county if they had questions regarding the ordinance.

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com