Internet Agenda Problems in Baraboo

Officials working to iron out meeting-notice problems
By Tim Damos
Using the Internet to keep tabs on Sauk County government meetings
might not be the best option. Recently, some meeting agendas have not
showed up on the county's Web site, though county employees are
working to correct the issue.

Judy Klemm, a Realtor with Klemm's Pikes Peak in Baraboo, likes to
attend zoning committee meetings. But when the agenda for this month's
meeting showed up on the Web site, it was too late.

"The agenda was not on there until after the meeting," she said.

Other county agendas have been posted late or not posted at all.

An August meeting of the property and insurance committee, during
which the committee recommended a $680,000 firing range be included in
the 2008 budget, was never posted to the Web site.

County technicians have been working with department heads to correct
the issue since county board members have raised concerns, said Steve
Pate, coordinator of the Sauk County Management Informations System.

He said there have been times when meeting information is not sent to
his staff, though most of the time it's a clerical error that causes
the problem.

"I can't say it's a regular problem — it just happens on occasion," he
said. "Part of that is because I've got different staff working on it
and they're not used to the system. They don't know who to
double-check with or what to double-check. But I think we have our
issues worked out."

Pate said Internet users also should be wary of the programs they are
using to view the Web site.

Internet Explorer, for example, may automatically save a page the
first time an Internet user pulls it up. Then, when the user tries to
pull up the page at a later date, Internet Explorer may load the old
page instead of the new one.

Although that page may since have been updated with more meeting
agendas, they may not show up.

In that case, the user should hit Control-F5 on their keyboard, Pate said.

The county is not legally required to post meeting information on its
Web site, but does so as a public service, Sauk County Corporation
Counsel Todd Liebman said.

Legally required meeting notices are posted in the Sauk County
Courthouse or the Sauk County West Square Building in downtown
Baraboo.

But for people who live on the outskirts of the county, it may not be
convenient to travel to Baraboo to see those agendas, Klemm said.

"I feel as long as we have the Web site up with agendas, notices and
minutes, it should be current," she said. "It's a service that they
should provide as long as the Web site is there and available."

Pate said he would eventually like to see a system in which department
heads could plug their meeting information onto the Web site
themselves, which would eliminate communication errors.