83.015 County highway committee.

(1) Election; compensation; term.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in par. (c) each county board at the annual meeting shall by ballot elect a committee of not less than 3 nor more than 5 persons, to serve for one year, beginning either as soon as elected or on January 1 following their election, as designated by the county board, and until their successors are elected. Any vacancy in the committee may be filled until the next meeting of the county board by appointment made by the chairperson of the board. The committee shall be known as the “county highway committee", and shall be the only committee representing the county in the expenditure of county funds in constructing or maintaining, or aiding in constructing or maintaining highways.

(b) The members of the county highway committee shall be reimbursed for their necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, and shall be paid the same per diem for time necessarily spent in the performance of their duties as is paid to members of other county board committees, not, however, exceeding $500 for per diem, in addition to necessary expenses, to any member in any year. A different amount may be fixed as a maximum by the county board.

(c) Notwithstanding par. (a), each county board may fix the number of members on the county highway committee, the membership, manner of appointment, method of filling vacancies and the terms of the members.

(d) The town chairperson of each town in which county aid construction is performed shall be a member of the county highway committee, or shall act with such committee, on all matters affecting such construction in the town, if the town has voted a portion of the cost thereof.

(2) Powers and duties.

(a) Except as provided under par. (b), the county highway committee shall purchase and sell county road machinery as authorized by the county board, determine whether each piece of county aid construction shall be let by contract or shall be done by day labor, enter into contracts in the name of the county, and make necessary arrangements for the proper prosecution of the construction and maintenance of highways provided for by the county board, enter private lands with their employees to remove weeds and brush and erect or remove fences that are necessary to keep highways open for travel during the winter, direct the expenditure of highway maintenance funds received from the state or provided by county tax, meet from time to time at the county seat to audit all payrolls and material claims and vouchers resulting from the construction of highways and perform other duties imposed by law or by the county board.

(b) In any county with a highway commissioner appointed under s. 83.01 (1) (b) or (c), the county highway committee shall be only a policy-making body determining the broad outlines and principles governing administration and the county highway commissioner shall have the administrative powers and duties prescribed for the county highway committee under par. (a), sub. (3) (a) and ss. 27.065 (4) (b) and (13), 32.05 (1) (a), 82.08, 83.01 (6), 83.013, 83.018, 83.025 (1) and (3), 83.026, 83.035, 83.04, 83.05 (1), 83.07 to 83.09, 83.12, 83.14 (6), 83.17, 83.18, 83.42 (3) and (4), 84.01 (5), 84.06 (3), 84.07 (1) and (2), 84.09 (1), (3) (a) to (c) and (4), 84.10 (1), 86.04 (1) and (2), 86.07 (2) (a), 86.19 (3), 86.34 (1m), 114.33 (5), 349.07 (2), 349.11 (4) and (10) and 349.15 (2). No statutory power, duty or function specified elsewhere for the county highway commissioner may be deemed impliedly repealed for the sole reason that reference to it has been omitted in this paragraph.

(3) Cost accounting system.

(a) Each county board, except in counties of a population of 750,000 or over, shall provide for and require the county highway committee and county highway department to use the system of cost accounting devised by the department of revenue.

(b) Any variations, adjustments, corrections and revisions in the system shall be made annually so as to be effective on January 1 of each year following the proposed change.

(c) Any changes so proposed in order to become effective shall be mutually agreed upon by the department and a majority of the county highway departments of the state.

(d) The department may insist on the adoption of the uniform system in any county before entering into agreements with such county for the maintenance of state trunk highways.

History: 1971 c. 211 s. 124; 1977 c. 29 ss. 915, 1654 (8) (c); 1979 c. 110, 147; 1985 a. 29; 1985 a. 223 ss. 2, 5; 1987 a. 27; 1989 a. 56 s. 258; 1997 a. 27; 2003 a. 214; 2013 a. 20; 2015 a. 231; 2017 a. 207 s. 5.

NOTE: 2003 Wis. Act 214, which affected this section, contains extensive explanatory notes.

This section does not preclude county boards from auditing county highway committee vouchers prior to payment thereof from county funds. However, the board's audit authority is limited to determining whether the expenditure is within the scope of the committee's statutory or delegated authority. 63 Atty. Gen. 136.