February 2019 WMCA E-Newsletter
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Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association Monthly Newsletter
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WMCA President's Message
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LOVE, HATE AND WAR: February, the month of love sure has made its mark this year! Snow haters and calls from residents who are complaining about snow plows hitting their mailbox; plowing snow drifts into their drive approach; and questions of when my garbage will be picked up, has left many of us feeling like we are at war with the weatherman! Here is a bit of advice from my inner optimist! Play in it! If you hate snow, it is because you are sick of clearing it! Try reframing your hatred. There is a lot of fun to be had in snowshoeing, skiing, snowman building, snowmobiling, ice skating, pond hockey, ice fishing or polar dipping.
CONFERENCE TIMES THREE: The 2019 Conference Committee met recently and is hard at work planning a phenomenal summer conference! You definitely will want to attend! The education is shaping up to be awesome and the fun is in the works. Hint: think Flappers, Gangsters, Prohibition and Speakeasies. Save the dates in your calendar: August 20th-23rd, 2019 in Middleton! We also have our Northern Conference in Eau Claire, May 9-10th! Speaking of Conferences, I will be representing all of you at the Minnesota Clerks and Finance Officers Association Conference happening in March. I am looking forward to seeing what our Clerk neighbors across the Border are doing and will report back to you, all the good stuff I learn.
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS: Our Wellness Committee at work decided to spread joy in February by promoting random acts of kindness. This week has been filled with surprises from my co-workers who are playing RAOK Bingo! I can see the joy spreading like a big heart shaped wild fire. I was especially appreciative of the co-worker who snuck outside and scraped the ice off my windshield last week. What a gift and what a great idea to pass along! Feel free to pay it forward and make someone’s day. If you need inspiration, reach out to me and I will share the Bingo card.
ODD ELECTION: The “Odd Year” Spring Election has become my favorite! The last one before a 10-month reprieve! I like to assess what went well and what didn’t, during my reprieve. This is my time to plan improvements for the next two-year term; a practice I started after my very first election as a new Clerk. I wish I could say I started the practice because I’m wise beyond my years, but the truth is I received an anonymous call from a very sweet sounding elderly woman who called me a bird brain and then hung up on me. Not really knowing what could have possibly made this sweet woman do that, I decided I needed to look at everything we did to see what was working and what wasn’t. It must have worked because she never called me again. For your information: Many communities across the state are implementing Badger Books for the first time so be sure to ask those Clerks how it went after the Election.
Kelly Michaels, WMCA President
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Read On for Several Education Opportunities
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Watch Your Email for the
WMCA Northern Training Line-Up
and Registration |
Mark your calendars for the 2-day
Northern Training coming on Thursday and Friday, May 9-10th
at the Lismore in Eau Claire.
There will be two tracks
of classes to cover topics for the new clerk and the not so new clerk.
Some of the classes will cover Alcohol Licensing paperwork; The Clerk's
Role for Board of Review; Records Management; Budgeting; BOR
Certification; and two classes from the UW-Green Bay Institute and more.
Registration information
will be coming out in early March. WCEF will be offering scholarships
for this training, too. Stay tuned for more information. |
Records Management
Workshop
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The Wisconsin Historical Society is offering a one day records management workshop at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor’s Center in Ashland, Wisconsin on Thursday, April 18. This free workshop will be hosted by WHS government records staff Andrew Baraniak, Hannah Wang, and Abbie Norderhaug, and is intended to give local government officials the opportunity to learn about legal responsibilities and basic records management of public records.
The workshop will be split into two sessions. The first session will cover topics that will help you become familiar with public records rules and laws, give an overview of basic records management, provide best practices in handling obsolete records, and will discuss the recently approved Wisconsin Municipal Records Schedule.
The second part will focus specifically on electronic records management and will provide helpful information regarding identifying common types of electronic records and how best to manage these records, along with educating you on tools that can help you manage and maintain them for their required retention period.
Lunch will be provided to all attendees and mileage reimbursement is available in limited quantities. To register for the conference, click here for the website to submit the registration form.
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| Interested parties can direct any questions or inquire about the mileage reimbursement by sending an email to govarc@wisconsinhistory.org. |
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The League of Wisconsin Municipalities Local Government 101 Workshop
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Sponsored by League Mutual Insurance and Stafford Rosenbaum LLP
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Municipal staff with years of experience attending Local Government 101 may find themselves sitting next to staff and elected officials who are brand new to government. In this popular one-day workshop you’ll learn about city and village powers including municipal home rule, hear about how to recognize and avoid conflicts of interest, go home with a quick tutorial on municipal budgeting as well as how to run a meeting and finish with an overview on managing public works projects. In addition, you’ll have that age-old question answered: “what is a walking quorum anyway?” The League is offering six of these one-day Workshops this year:
May 10 - Pewaukee: Ingleside Hotel; May 17 - Eau Claire: Lismore Hotel; May 31 - Madison: Holiday Inn at the American Center; June 21 - Appleton: Red Lion Paper Valley; June 28 - Ashland: Best Western Chequamegon Hotel and September 13 - Waupaca: Par 4 Resort. Click here to register on the League’s website.
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UW-Green Bay Clerks Institute
The Municipal Clerks and Treasurers Institute consists of a three-year program of classroom instruction that takes place during one-week sessions recurring annually.
The Institute offers one week of classroom sessions during the second week of July. There is a curriculum track for Clerks and a separate curriculum track for Treasurers. The week consists of 33-34 contact hours per attendee. Each year the curriculum increases in difficulty, building on the knowledge gained the previous years. New students must sign up for Year One.
After three years when attendees have completed an accumulated total of 100 hours of programming, Clerks graduate from the Clerks Institute while Treasurers graduate from the Treasurers Institute.
Click here to check out all the details of the best municipal clerk's education program!
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Scholarship Applications Now Available for UW-Green Bay Institute & Academy
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from Scholarship Chair Jill Kenda-Lubetski
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Did you know that the WMCA gives away numerous scholarships to ALL levels of education for the UW-Green Bay Clerks Institute/Master Academy? All you have to do to apply is complete the Scholarship Application and submit it to WMCA Headquarters with all required supporting documentation. Deadline is April 15, 2019.
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WEC Advisory Committees:
Volunteers Needed
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The WEC, in partnership with the WMCA, WTA, and WCCA, is pleased to announce the creation of advisory committees to help plan, prioritize, and implement future election initiatives. We want to hear your ideas to improve elections in Wisconsin!
What is it? The program consists of three committees, each focused on an important component of election planning. Each committee will develop ideas to improve election processes in their assigned area of responsibility. The three committees are: (1) Election Security; (2) Communications; and (3) Clerk Training.
Click here to download the full memorandum from the Wisconsin Election Commission for full details of how you can get involved.
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IIMC Conference Scholarship
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New this year, a $2,000 scholarship to the IIMC Annual Conference in Birmingham, Alabama.
To be considered, your Application MUST be at WMCA Headquarters by March 1, 2019. **DO NOT FORGET to send in a letter of support from your Supervisor. Your application will not be considered without it!**
Click here to fill out the on-line version of the Scholarship Application.
Click here to download a fillable Scholarship Application.
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League of Wisconsin Municipalities Building Inspectors Institute
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This popular Institute provides attendees with the following certifications from DSPS: 12 hours Commercial Building Inspector Certification; 12 hours UDS Construction Inspector Certification and 6 hours UDS HVAC Inspector Certification.
April 24-26, 2019, Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake. Click here for the agenda and registration.
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WMCA Associate Members are great partners with the WMCA. The next time you need to purchase a service or software, or other items, check out the vendors ads on the WMCA website on the Municipal Vendor page.
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THE WMCA MISSION:
To be the premier source for the personal empowerment of municipal clerks in Wisconsin through education, professional development, and the promotion of excellence.
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