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VILLAGE GOVERNMENT
Village government is made up
of a president, trustees, clerk, treasurer, assessor, municipal justice
and constable or village marshal. There may also be a health officer.
THE PRESIDENT
The president meets with the
trustees and other village board members to discuss and decide all
village
matters. All forms of local government must work with state and
national
government. The president has an equal vote on all matters, but cannot
veto. The president may appoint someone to fill a vacancy, such as
village
marshal).- He may do this, because if a vacancy occurs right after an
election,
then it would be two years before a new person could be elected.
THE CLERK
The clerk of the village keeps
all records of meetings and posts all notices of village meetings. The
clerk files all new information.
THE TREASURER
The treasurer collects village
taxes and keeps books on all financial matters of the village. The
treasurer
sends out tax statements to all property owners of ttie village. Dog
taxes
are also collected.
THE ASSESSOR
The assessor evaluates the
property
and buildings in the village and upon his recommendation, the rate is
set.
Property taxes are collected from December through February of each
year.
MUNICIPAL JUSTICE
The Justice has very limited
powers in the village. He hears cases involving traffic or parking
violations.
TRUSTEES
Trustees are elected to the
village board as representatives of the people to carry out the details
of the village. They meet monthly with the village president to decide
matters pertaining to the operation and maintenance of the village such
as water, sewer, streets and etc. They discuss all matters which
involve
the people of the village. If a big issue comes up, they may call for a
referundum.
CONSTABLE OR VILLAGE MARSHALL
It is the duty of the constable
or village marshal! to maintain law and order in the village. He may
have
to collect stray dogs as well.
HEALTH OFFICER
The health officer is to keep
records and make reports on all communicable diseases in the village.
They
are reported to the county health office and from there to the state.
The
duties have been greatly reduced due to immunizations and modern
medicine.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT
People
in the village are also
under county government. In general, county government is organized
around
a governing board and a greatly varied array of individual officers,
boards,
commissions and other part time committees. The pattern is not uniform,
usually, even within a state. Part of the structure and even many
details
of organization may be set out in the state constitution. The remainder
is usually determined by state law.
Despite
the variety of county
governments, a few generalizations can be made about county government,
including the following:
1.
With the
exception of a very few urban counties, there is no chief executive
officer
for the county. A group of co-equal, elected administrators is the
common
pattern.
2.
County
government grew unsystematically and has rarely been deliberately
revised
and altered as has been the case with municipal government in most
states.
3.
The separation-of-powers
principle has not been important in county government. Executive,
legislative
and judicial powers are often to be found in the same person.
4.
County
government structure falls generally into two types: the commissioner
form
and the supervisor form. This latter form of county government is what
Oconto County has. The governing board is made up of members who are
also
holding office, usually as judicial, township or municipal officers.
Our
County has 24 supervisor districts. These people represent the cities,
towns and villages of Oconto county on the board of supervisors. The
county
then, is becoming an increasingly important unit for the provision or
providing
of social services wanted by the public, but only very slow change can
be noted toward making its government more responsive to popular
control.
The
county executive officer
is called "Chairman of the County Board." He presides over the county
board
meetings and if he should be absent, the vice chairman takes over. If
the
vice chairman is also absent, the county clerk shall call the meeting
to
order.