Summer 2023 Board Committee Reports

The Board has been busy since the Annual Conference. Here's what we've been doing. 

If any of these activities are something you would like to be involved in or if you have any questions about the activities, please contact the committee chair which can be found on the Committees portion of our website.

2024 Annual Conference Committee

President Elect Colter Sikora has many fun surprises in mind for the 2024 Annual Conference. The Call for Workshops is out, so if you have a workshop or an idea for one, please pop on over and let us know.

Spring Education Committee

Spring ed committee spent the months leading up to the spring meeting (May 2023), planning the event.  We worked on getting presenters lined up, planning social nights, and advertising to get the attendance numbers up from previous years.  We worked with the Wisconsin Real Property Lister Association planning the joint meeting and fostering better relationships with our organizations.  Once the spring meeting ended, we switched gears to help plan the Fall meeting.  We also recommended the next location for the spring meeting in 2024.  Rinse and repeat!

Fall Education Committee

The Fall Education Committee is hard at work finalizing the Fall Regional Meeting in Minocqua. Registration is OPEN! This will be another joint meeting. This time with the local Property Records Industry Association (PRIA).  The Hotel is asking for a food head count way earlier than most venues so please register early to help us get an accurate count. Room reservations must be made by September 18^th. This will be another joint meeting. This time with the local Property Records Industry Association (PRIA).

Legislative Committee

The Legislative Committee has been busy keeping an eye on several topics.

• On the funding front:
  • Recorded documents are down this year which means a reduction in the Strategic Innovation Grants awarded through the Wisconsin Land Information Program.
  • They have been monitoring a pre-disaster flood grant program that WLIA has signed on to. It has passed the Joint Finance Committee and the Senate. It is still going through the Assembly.
  • Personal Property tax has been repealed and they are monitoring the effects and implementation of that repeal.
• They are working on a proposal to rectify issues pertaining to discrepancies in school district boundaries.
• Daniel’s Law has been passed at the Federal level. There are different interpretations on how that will affect local government. The Legislative Committee is monitoring this situation.
• The Committee is also gathering information from County Land Information Officers about the cost of operating the Land Information Programs to justify an increase in recorded document fees, if necessary. They are also monitoring changes to the Real Estate Transfer Fees.

Technical Committee

The Technical Committee is preparing to work on the updates to the Foundation Layers document.  We are also continuing the monitor the progress of NG911 onboarding with the Department of Military Affairs to see if the NG911 task force can provide any assistance.

Communications Committee

You have been seeing a lot of what the Communications Committee has been up to with all of the newsletters and articles. They have also implanted a new feature to our website for Extracurricular Activities. Is there an event happening somewhere that you would like to share with your fellow geo-geeks? Are you looking for something to do? Check out this page to explore Wisconsin. The Committee has also revived the Member Spotlight Series. Learn about different members from around the state. Read their stories. If you have someone you would like to see interviewed submit your idea!

Membership and Outreach Committee

The Membership and Outreach Committee has been working behind the scenes on the member database and making sure all of the event registrations are ready to go. They have also done a lot of work “sprucing up” the WLIA Booth to take to different events. They recently conducted a booth training for a consistent appearance at the different events.

Scholarship Committee

The committee recently selected three geography undergraduates to receive $1,500 each for the upcoming academic year. The Damon Anderson Memorial Scholarship recipients for 2023-24 are Nick Erickson (UW-Parkside), Ian Bohacheck (UW-Madison), and Tristan Wirkus (UW-Eau Claire). There was a strong field of scholarship applicants this year, and we encourage those that didn’t get selected to apply again next year!

Awards Committee

Awards nominations are currently open. Awards will be presented at the 2024 Annual Conference in February. Please nominate your colleagues that are doing great work in the Wisconsin Land Information community. To see more information about the awards and to nominate follow this link.

Nominations Committee

Nominations for board of directors and president-elect are open. You are encouraged to recommend yourself or someone you believe would serve WLIA well. We strive to build a slate of candidates that will represent the entire spectrum of the WLIA membership. A slate of candidates will be approved by the board prior to the voting process, which starts in January and ends at the annual conference in February of 2024.