by Emmitt B. Feldner
for The Beacon

County Administrator Adam Payne borrowed some advice from Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo for the new County Board April 26.

“We need to have fun,” this term, Payne told the board, which completed its reorganization process by approving appointments to the eight standing committees.

After the Bucks lost the second game of their first-round NBA playoff series to the Chicago Bulls, Antetokounmpo said his team needed to “have more fun” and the Bucks responded by taking control of the series.

Payne noted that the past two years proved a trying, and challenging, time for the board and county government in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and the problems it presented.

In announcing the committee appointments made by the Executive Committee, County Boad chair Vernon Koch  pointed out that while not every supervisor received all of the committee appointments they sought, “23 of 24 supervisors received their first or second committee choice.”

Committees met to select officers and set meeting dates before the board adjourned.

The committees, and officers selected, are:

Executive: Koch, chair; Keith Abler, vice-chair; William Goehring, secretary; Curt Brauer and Edward Procek.

Finance: Roger TeStroete, chair; Kathleen Donovan, vice-chair; Goehring, secretary; Abler and Tom Wegner.

Health Care Center: Jackie Veldman, chair; Bauer, vice-chair; Al Bosman, secretary; Marilyn Montemayor and Suzanne Speltz.

Health and Human Services: Brauer, chair; Goehring, vice-chair; Monetmayor, secretary; Rebecca Clarke, James Coulson and Wendy Schobert.

Human Resources: Procek, chair; Wegner, vice-chair; Christian Ellis, secretary; Donovan and Carl Nonhof.

Law: Gerald Jorgensen, chair; Paul Gruber, vice-chair; Schobert, secretary; Jacob Immel and Nonhof.

Planning, Resources, Agriculture and Extension: Abler, chair; Clarke, vice-chair; John Nelson, secretary; Gruber and Henry Nelson.

Property: Henry Nelson, chair; George Kulow, vice-chair; Jorgensen, secretary; Jon Kuhlow and Brian Smith.

Transportation: Wegner, chair; TeStroete, vice-chair; Bosman, secretary; Kuhlow and Veldman.