Sunday, September 17, 2017

Size Matters

Looks like the oversized Marinette County Board of Supervisors won't be shrinking any time soon.

The board's executive committee voted recently to remain a bloated entity of 30 by nixxing a proposed spring advisory referendum on reduction. Read more here.

Generally, large oversight boards are unwieldy, inefficient, and prone to inaction.  The Marinette County Board is no exception.

Allow me to submit these facts for you to ponder:

Less than an hour away, Brown County is the fourth largest county in Wisconsin in terms of population with 260,401 people. About 30 years ago, the board reduced in size from 32 (as I recall) to 26 members.

Marinette County is 37th in population, with 40,491 people - and 30 supervisors on its county board.

You do the math.

Kudos to Board Chairman Mark Anderson for at least trying to reduce board size. While previous chairs have vigorously protected the status quo, Anderson has always tried to be progressive. This isn't his first stint as chair. He's on the right track.

The same cannot be said of a majority of his colleagues on the executive committee.





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