On Tuesday, December 30, the Clark County Board met at the Courthouse in Neillsville. This meeting was rescheduled from the original planned date of Thursday, December 18. The meeting started with some technical difficulties with the Webex recording and the digital Roll Call remotes. After the Pledge of Allegiance, roll call was taken with 26 present and 3 absent.
First item on the agenda was a presentation on the future of the 1897 Jail. A member of the Clark County Historical Society, Natalie Witte, presented on the subject. She said that for over 40 years, the Historical Society leased the 1897 Jail from the County, who owns the building and the land. The Historical Society can’t afford the building upkeep anymore and moved their collection to a different building due to structural issues. The options for the jail are to either pay for remodeling or upkeep, or to demolish the building. The primary cause of concern is the faulty roof that is causing water damage. For either remodeling or demolition, the County would have to talk to the State and Federal governments since the Jail is considered a Historic Landmark. An additional cause of concern is that there is asbestos in the building and specialized work would be needed to deal with it. Another option is to sell to developers who would make those decisions. Stoecker asked for any estimates for demotion which Boone answered would probably be at least $83,000. It would take approximately $20-50 thousand to stabilize the roof to buy time for remodeling. The remodeling costs would depend on what the space will become.
The next item on the agenda was to accept grant funds supporting the ADRC Holiday Project which was passed. The next item on the agenda was to Support the Forestry Revitalization Act. Stoecker had the concern of blindly supporting something that most, if not all, of the board didn’t understand, or fully know about. Curtiss Lindner tried to explain it a bit more. The Act was designed to turn low quality wood into biofuel. Some of the concerns are that by 2050, this statute will be obsolete. After some explanation, the item passed.
The next item on the agenda was to rescind designations of Official County Newspapers. The State Statute says that if they are below a certain population size they don’t have to publish agendas and minutes in newspapers unless they are designated as Official County Newspapers; they do have to publish certain items like election notifications. Arlene Kodl proposed an amendment that they publish in the Shoppers instead, claiming that everyone in the county receives at least one of three. That amendment failed. It was brought up that what costs the most is publishing the meeting minutes and that there is still a possibility of publishing the agendas, but not the minutes. Wilcox stated that they didn’t need to be tied down to any commitments with the rescinding. The vote to rescind designations for Official County Newspapers passed with 26 yes and 3 absent.
The motion to approve the 2026 Non-Union Clark County Rehabilitation and Living Center base wage increase passed. There was a motion to accept the County Treasurer retirement and to post a Special Election proposed by Boone and seconded by Ashbeck. An amendment was proposed to strike lines 18-21, strike line 26’s “to serve until successor treasurer is elected and qualified” and insert “until the appointed candidate shall serve the remainder of the term until January 2029,” and strike lines 29-31. One of the questions that was proposed was if the State of Wisconsin has rules about appointing people within six months of being elected, which there is no known statute about that. The amendment passed with 24 Yes, 2 No, and 3 Absent. The original motion, as amended, passed with 26 yes and 3 absent. Kyle Chamberlain was then sworn in as County Treasurer. A motion to accept Grant Funds Supporting the Clark County Nutrition Program was approved.
The last item on the agenda was for a temporary Moratorium on the Consideration of Issuance of Permits for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Data Centers. The floor was yielded to Derek Weyer, Zoning Administrator, to give a brief rundown of what BESS and Data Centers are and what the Moratorium is for. He explained that BESS can be linked to Renewable resources and with the uptick of AI usage, Data Centers are becoming a source of contention. At the moment, the County does not have any ordinances in regard to either BESS or Data Centers and that essentially the companies would only need a rural address permit. One of the concerns that was brought up was the county’s emergency management system if the centers caught fire. They are asking for a 6-month moratorium that would allow the County to draft an ordinance in regard to BESS and Data Centers. It was mentioned that the richest people in the world are building these centers, but that the poorest will pay, especially in regard to water usage. Weyer mentioned that there is a major power line that is being built through Wisconsin counties. It was also mentioned that the new age of learning is AI which will need Data Centers. It was also highlighted by several people that Clark County is an agriculture county, that the county and the people don’t have a lot of water to spare for AI Data Centers considering that there is no ordinance about/against wells for large projects like BESS and Data Centers that would stop construction. After a vote to suspend rules which require two readings, to make it one reading (the one currently), it needed 2/3 vote to pass which it did. The Temporary Moratorium also passed.
The November minutes were approved and passed. The next County Board Meeting date is tentatively set for January 15. The meeting adjourned.