I bet they were really busy during this time that the County Executive and the Zoological Society were fighting over $8 million dollars and the sheriff was investigating the theft! Not. So who does make decisions about the Zoo?
WHAT IS THE CHARGE OF THE COMMITTEE?
In legistar it simply says this: “Ord. Amdt. 22, 82-83 adopted 5/5/83. Policymaking and budgetary oversight body with respect to the operation of the zoo.”
So I looked up the ordinance to find more. Which isn’t very easy on the county board website. I had to look in the index to find it because I didn’t know what chapter to look in. unfortunately, it’s also hard to link to, but you can find it on page 24 here. It’s Dane County Ordinance 15.45.
In addition to the duties below, the ordinance covers the following:
- There are 7 members
- The Mayor appoints two members, one is the alder from the district where the zoo is located, unless they go off the committee for some reason then the Mayor can appoint someone else.
- The County Executive appoints 5 members, County Board confirms. One is the Supervisor in the district where the zoo is located unless they go off the committee for some reason. The others serve 3 year terms. 2 people have to live outside of Madison
- A member of the fundraising partner is appoited by the County Executive but serves as a non-voting member and doesn’t count for quorum.
- Apparently the bylaws, rules and regulations of the committee are subject to review, amendment and rescission at any time by the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee?!?
This is the full text of the duties of the commission
(5) Duties of Commission. The Commission shall act as the policy-making and budgetary oversight body with respect to the operation of the Henry Vilas Zoo. The Commission shall annually supervise the preparation of a budget for operation of the zoo. The budget shall be submitted to the County Executive for approval. The Commission shall not assign, convey, lease, sell, devise or otherwise alienate any real property at the zoo or any personal property assigned thereto except that the commission, directly or by written delegation to the director, may sell, lease, trade or purchase personal property in accordance with regulations of the City of Madison or the County of Dane as appropriate. The Zoo Commission shall determine the hours the zoo shall be open to the public, subject to the requirements that it be open at reasonable hours and that no charge be made for admission to the zoo.
WHO IS ON THE COMMITTEE?
- Anne Ross
- County Board Supervisor Chuck Erickson
- Jeffrey Gunderson
- Jonathan Becker
- Micheal Petersen
- Sarah Justus
- Alder Tag Evers
HOW MUCH IS THE BUDGET?
Operating Budget
The county budget says that they spend $4,786,991 and they have $2,562,550 in Program Specific Revenues and $2,224,441 in General Purpose Revenues. (Page 28 budget in brief) I tried looking in the full budget – I thought the Zoo was under Administration but the pdf wasn’t searchable.
Capital Budget
And on page 40 it has more specifics for the Capital budget
- Animal Health Medical Equipment $150,000
- Conservation Education Equipment $40,000
- Herpetarium Roof Replacement $40,000
- Primate HVAC $40,000
- Sand Filtration System – Aviary $40,000
- Zoo Improvements – $100,000
WHY ARE THERE CITY APPOINTMENTS?
I’m guessing because the city also gives them the following in their budget.
They get $317,352 from the Room Tax.
(j) Allocation of funding to support operating subsidies to the Henry Vilas Zoo ($317,352), the Olbrich Botanical Gardens ($325,000), and the Overture Center ($2,095,000) is authorized by the Room Tax Commission, consistent with state law. In 2020, the Overture Center subsidy is increased by $95,000 (from $2,000,000 to $2,095,000).
They also get $177,365 from Direct Appropriations.
HOW OFTEN DO THEY MEET?
Well . . . much like the joint City/County Public Health Department . . .
2019 – 6 times
- 1/8/19 & 1/16/19
- 7/10/19
- 9/24/19
- 10/16/19
- 11/5/19
- 3/5/19 & 5/7/19 Cancelled or there are no agendas or minutes
- No meetings scheduled for February, April, June, August or December
2018 – 2 (or 5?) times
- 1/16/19
- 11/13/18
- Meetings were cancelled, or at least there are agendas with no minutes
- 3/6/18, no minutes in legistar, but linked on May agenda
- 5/8/18, no minutes in legistar, but linked on July agenda
- 7/10/18, no minutes in legistar but on linked on Sept agenda
- 9/11/18 – Agenda says it is cancelled
- No meetings were scheduled February, April, June, August, October or December
Note:
2017 – 2 (or more?) times
- 3/17/17
- 7/11/17
- Meetings were cancelled, or at least there are agendas with no minutes for
- 1/3/17
- 5/2/17
- 9/20/17
- 11/7/17
- No meetings were scheduled for February, April, June, August, October or December
2016 – 2 (or more?) times
- 9/20/16
- 11/1/16
- Meetings were cancelled, or at least there are agendas with no minutes for
- 1/19/16
- 3/1/16
- 5/3/16
- 7/19/16
- No meetings were scheduled for February, April, June, August, October or December
2015 – 3 times
2014 – 4 times
2013 – none – but that might be when legistar started for the county? Or they might have been slow to transfer to Legistar because there is nothing in there at all.
WHAT’S ON THEIR AGENDAS?
I know from doing the week ahead, not much.
All of their agendas have only one item titled “Zoo Report” and approval of the minutes of the previous meeting except the following which had these additional items
1/7/20 –AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR HERPETARIUM ROOF REPLACEMENT AT THE HENRY VILAS ZOO (REBID)
9/24/19 – Discuss and vote on 2020 budget proposal – no attachments
1/16/19 –AWARDING CONTRACT FOR ZOO VETERINARY SERVICES
1/8/19 – Also had Zoo Society Report prior to this date
9/20/17 – Vote on Zoo Budget – no attachments
9/20/16 – Budget – no attachements
7/19/16 – AWARD OF CONTRACT FOR HENRY VILAS ZOO – ADMINISTRATION BUILDING REROOFING AND RECLADDING
3/1/16 -SSP Animal Update
11/10/15 – Reports = 2015 and 2016 budget updates – operations and capital (no attachments)
9/15/15 – 2016 Budget Vote – no attachments
3/3/15 – Glacier Grille menu presentation – no attachments
7/1/14
- In 2014 the Budget – Operation and Capital appears as a report in July, but there doesn’t appear to be a vote.
- Budget: Operation and Capital
DID THEY NOT VOTE ON THEIR BUDGET?
It looks like they didn’t vote on their budget in 2018 or 2014. It didn’t even appear on an agenda? There are no minutes for the September 2017 meeting where they were supposed to vote on their budget in 2018. However, oddly, when you open the agenda for September 2017 there are minutes listed on the agenda? But they don’t appear in legistar?
In 2014 the Budget – Operation and Capital appears as a report in July, but there doesn’t appear to be a vote.
WHEN DID THE HENRY VILAS ZOO COMMISSION SPLIT WITH THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY?
In March news broke that the Zoological Society and the Zoo were splitting up. It was reported by several news organizations
- Vilas Zoo will continue to function with nonprofit running on-site, Executive Joe Parisi Says – State Journal 3/21/19
- Joe Parisi: Keeping accreditation let to split – State Journal 3.25/19
- Dane County moves forward with changes to Henry Vilas Zoo – WMTV 3/26/19
- A bitter divorce – Isthmus – 3/29/19
- And I’m sure there are many more . . .
But if you look in the minutes, they Board never voted to do this.
The minutes of 1/16/19 were the last minutes before this hit the news, the meeting in March was cancelled.
The Zoo Director report was as follows:
Zoo Director reported that this resolution would need to move through the assigned committeescommitees and be approved by the county board
The Zoo Society Report was as follows:
None
The minutes of the prior meeting on 1/9/19 have no motion either. They approve the minutes and have the two reports that say:
Zoo Director Report
Ronda Schwetz, Executive Director of the Zoo reported Zoo updates: Animal updates included update on denning behavior of female polar bear, Berit. Plan to let her wake up and then introduce to male polar bear, Nuniq. Two penguin chicks hatched and are doing very well. Zookeeper Gary Hartlage is in Africa helping penguin conservation efforts of nonprofit SANCOOB. Vet Tech Angie Sutton and Volunteer Coordinator, Nikki from the Society spent 3 weeks in Vietnam helping a nonprofit set up their animal hospital to help wildlife in that region. Reviewed 2018 budget and talked about 2019 planned capital projects to replace the Herpetarium and Aviary roofs. Went over animal welfare improvements that were mentioned in the accreditation process and talked about the upgrades to their exhibits and giving them more choices. New Deputy Director, Joseph Darchangelo introduced himself and started in November. General Curator position is open but in recruitment.
Zoo Society Report
Alison Prange, President of the Zoo Society reported: Mentioned that the 2018 books were closing that week. Even though grounds revenue was down they had a good fundraising year. Visitation was also down presumably from the wet weather in the summer. Selected Baker Tilly as their new accounting firm. Tom Hanson will be taking over as the Board Chair in January, 2019. Zoolights was very successful at over 30,000 visitors. Looking at ways to drive guests to the zoo in the off seasons.
The minutes of 11/13/19 have no vote by the Henry Vilas Zoo Commission to split with the Zoological Society
Executive Zoo Director Report
Ronda Schwetz, Executive Director of the Zoo reported Zoo updates: Animal updates acquisition of a male polar bear, Nuniq, owned by Henry Vilas Zoo. The female polar bear, Berit, has been denned up in case of pregnancy until the end of the year. Other updates include report out on Ronda Schwetz, Joe Myszkowski and Elise Gorchel’s trip to Borneo where they visited orangutan and sun bear rehabilitation sites and planted and maintained over 400 trees for establishing a wildlife corridor. The University of Wisconsin Vet School has gotten the veterinary services contract starting in 2019. Facilities updates include updates on the Herpetarium roof which needs to have mold removed for 2019. The final budget for 2019 was shared.
Zoo Society Report
Alison Prange, President of the Zoo Society reported: This is year 3 of the annual, “Feed the Zoo” campaign. The Society received the philanthropic agency of the year award. Brew Lights will be on November 28th with 25 breweries. Zoo lights starts on November 14 and runs Thursday – Sunday through January 1st. The new website has launched. The second annual SOS (Save Our Species) lunch will be held on February 12th.
The county board never voted on this issue either. There was never a resolution or other action put to the body.
Looks like Joe Parisi may have been acting alone? Or maybe not, who knows? But there is no public record of any meetings that I’m aware of where these decisions would have been made.
WHY DIDN’T THEY HAVE ANY ROLE IN THE MOST RECENT SPAT? OR DID THEY? WERE THERE OTHER SECRET MEETINGS?
The county operates in mysterious ways. So, I have no idea. I did ask Alder Tag Evers at one point if the Henry Vilas Zoo Commission had any role in all the items hitting the news and he said no. I asked if they had ever discussed the issues, he said no. I don’t recall when I asked him, but it was sometime between last March and now. I know I shrugged it off because the county is the way it is. But it did get me thinking . . . who was making the decisions? Under what authority? Where was the public input or information?
WHY DID THE SHERIFF HAVE TO GET INVOLVED?
The county has a funny way of using the Sheriff’s office. They once requested the sheriff investigate me for making a joke on facebook which led to them eventually cutting the Tenant Resource Center’s funding. The sheriff’s investigation consisted of a 5 minute phone call and the matter was resolved.
Did they really need to call the sheriff for this contractual dispute? I wasn’t shocked when the Sheriff found not criminal activity.
- Sheriff’s department finds no “criminal conduct” on part of Zoological Society – Isthmus
- Dane County Sheriff: No criminal conduct found with Vilas Zoo society’s use of donations – Cap Times
- Vilas Zoo: Investigation clears zoological society in donation accounting tiff – State Journal
- No ‘criminal conduct’ found after investigation into Henry Vilas Zoo donations – WKOW
What a waste of the sheriff’s time and taxpayer dollars. I’m sure he has more important things to do than jump whenever county leaders say so.
WHY DO YOU CARE KONKEL?
This particular issue has several issues I care about, some minor, some major:
- Not knowing how to use legistar and put the minutes in correctly
- Public getting cut out of policy decisions when committees are cut out of the process
- Not using committee structure to make important decisions
- Wasting residents time who volunteer to sit on committees does not encourage others to step up and serve on committees.
- Mis-using the sheriff’s office
- Did the committee really not vote on their budget in two different years? If so, who is really in charge? Who is making the decisions?
- Why was the county board not a part of the decision if the Henry Vilas Zoo Commission wasn’t?
- When $8 million dollars of public money is involved, there should be public process.
- The public should be able to better understand how the county operates and makes decisions.
