County Board considers benefits, pitfall of downsizing.

Byline: Shelley Nelson

Nov. 24--The Douglas County Board is making plans to reduce its ranks next year when the county redraws district lines to reflect shifts in county population. Knowing the pitfalls in advance is critical to devising a plan -- after all, once the board shrinks, it cannot grow again if the workload of the largely volunteer governing body proves to be too much. While the county board can change its ranks once before the next decennial census in 2020, the board can only get smaller under Wisconsin law. Board sizes can only increase when during census reapportionment, said John Reinemann, legislative director for the Wisconsin Counties Association. Douglas County's loosely formulated plan is to …