By City Times staff

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – The Wood County Board of Supervisors is changing the makeup of their executive board.

Two years ago, the Judicial & Legislative Committee recommended changes to county board rules. In the process, it was recommended, and approved, that the chair of each county committee would sit on the executive board.

The Judicial & Legislative Committee now feels that move resulted in “too much power resting with the seven-member Executive Committee” and recommended that the original makeup of the Executive Committee be reinstated and revert back to the original organizational makeup of the board.

During the November meeting of the Wood County Board of Supervisors, board members approved a resolution that would change that makeup.

The committee will now consist of the county board chair, the county board vice chair, and three additional members of the board appointed by the county board chair.

“I agree with that,” said County Board Chair Doug Machon. “Having sat in this chair, that is the way it should be. That is the way it is in most counties.

“It’s very problematic, I think, having the chairs elected by the committee automatically go to the Executive Committee.”

The move also changes the name of the board to the “Operations Committee.”

“The next chairman will sit on the Operations Committee, which will be a standing committee of the county board, with the vice chair of the county board, and then the chairman will pick three additional members of the board at large to sit on that Operations Committee,” Machon explained.

“It is a good thing, because it opens up the ability to be involved more. Because you are still going to have the same number of chairmen out there… but yet you still have the ability to appoint three members to the Operations Committee.”