Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this March 27th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here in part two today at 330.
We're going to welcome in our friends from the ODC looking forward to
catching up with them right now.
We have in with us Lance Plymo, Wood County Board Chairman.
Good morning.
A good afternoon, Lance.
Good morning, our afternoon, whichever it is, James.
Sure.
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Lance, so this show, you know, we've talked about this before.
Lance, that you come in, you don't really have an outline.
Don't really know where direction we want to go in and everything,
but we always fill the time.
So let's fill the time.
Yeah, I was just laughing.
You know, we're right before we went on the air.
I was, uh, Kim James a little bit.
I said, I got nothing.
I said, but it's your show and he said, well, no, it's not.
It's, you know, morning.
I said, well, yeah, but with, you know, James Mailoff.
So, and then right away, you introduce yourself.
Hey, it's, it's like, you know, the tonight show with Johnny Carson.
So you lead us, you know, you lead us down that path.
And, uh, yeah, we have no, uh, the show is called Midday magazine.
It does not, it's not about me, Lance.
It's your show.
So it is, you allow us to go any direction we want.
Yes.
It, it's interesting.
You know, it, it starts almost like any other day.
You know, there's things you expect that you have to do and, and then things occur.
And like I said, you know, off air a little bit, we're joking around.
And I, I made the comment, you know, there's elections coming up.
There's always the unexpected.
And then, you know, you have things like a, a ship hits a bridge in all.
There's an entire city or an entire coast.
And, you know, James had, well, maybe you had to talk about more local.
And I said, well, all right, a, you know, a ship hasn't hit a bridge.
But, but you could just start hitting the recorder as soon as Lance sits in.
Apparently, he's just going to repeat everything we talked about before the show.
Where we, how about we talk about elections, Lance?
How about we go that way before the ships.
But what I was going to just mention is we do with the unexpected every day.
And that's part of the deal.
But right now, you've got elections coming up.
And, you know, that's important.
Those decisions that you make locally probably affect your everyday life more
than some of those that you make on a national level.
And I'm often amazed at how many people don't take the time to research, you know,
first of all, the issues.
And then who's running and who might, you know, best represent them in pursuit
of whatever it is, whatever side of the eye or whatever they're at.
As those issues relate to them personally.
And it just amazes me because I have conversations with very informed friends
from time to time that I actually say, there's an election next week.
And I go, yes.
And they said, uh, who's running and for what?
And you know, I didn't think we elect the president until, you know, November.
Well, again, you're right.
Sometimes I wonder how you don't have any awareness of what's going on in the community.
Cause it really does affect you day to day.
You know, whether those are mayoral races, uh, county board races, school boards,
you know, town boards, villages, you name it, uh, closest to home and in government,
closest to home is the one that affects you the most.
Um, you know, part of it is, I think a little understandable to a degree with
how busy our lives are and the fact that every one of us are working to the bone.
And there's not a whole lot of free time.
There's not a, in the free time you do have, you tend to put towards family,
friends, maybe these kind of out, you know, hobbies and that by the end of the day,
the last thing you want to do is look at the news or these things.
All that being said, it's our civic duty to vote.
It's our civic duty to be informed.
And it's our duty as Americans, I believe to keep freedom alive, keep democracy
alive, keep this whole thing going.
So I, I think we can see both sides of that land.
But yeah, but you know, you know, you know, you really hit the nail on the head here.
Cause you know, we've had conversations with, I, I think generationally, you know,
if I have my father at the table, he's keenly aware of what's going on in politics.
And I think, well, maybe because of my position, I may be more aware of what's going on
locally than others, but my generation again, much more than my children.
And I look at my own children, my nieces, my nephews, you know, all these are really
bright and intelligent, educated kids.
And that's the first thing they say to me, well, we don't have time to do this.
And then I'm usually a smart elk and I go, well, let's pull out your phone and see how much
screen time you had this week on something other than the news, or when you're in your
car going somewhere instead of turning on, you know, a music station.
How much is, how much take five minutes to that and catch the headline news?
But you're right.
I mean, I always tell people, family comes first, you know, and then there's those other
things that occur.
I think that there's a lot of truth in what you're saying there.
I also think that a lot of us see so many young people like not waiting to get things
done. You know, there, there was a time when a lot of us were growing up that,
okay, well, at this age is when I start getting involved in politics or at this age is when
I start paying attention or some of this, these, these youngest generation, they're getting
things done.
If you're paying attention to the national news and you're seeing that they've got the
youngest mayor they've ever had in Miami or some of these things that are happening, young
people are not waiting for us to get out of the way and for them to take over.
They are seeing that the time is of the essence and they're getting some things done.
So I think there's a little bit of both.
And there's, you know, and there's certainly, you know, you could see involvement in whether
it be local community activities or within politics or even look at some of the financial
news is to, you know, which generations I started to bank money looking at their future.
And in the youngest generation, and I lose track of which ones we're talking about right
now, but I have been much more attuned and much more willing to probably do that than others.
But I mean, this is imperative.
I, you know, I talked to somebody the other day and they said to me, I never vote.
Never.
And I said, you never vote and they said, no, I've never voted.
And I know this person is, I'm going to say pretty deeply involved within the community
and other things that are going on.
And, you know, my take always is, it's tough to complain if you don't participate in the
process, you know, so get out there.
And, you know, the one thing I'm going to, I'd really like to lot, our clerk, our county clerk,
does a tremendous job of getting out there, sharing information.
I think he was on your show about a week ago, James Trent Miner's on a standing county clerk.
He works with the local clerks, the town clerks, you know, village city clerks to run really
good elections.
And I can tell you locally, our elections are extremely secure.
Now, can I speak to elections everywhere else?
I don't know.
But I'm guessing that if you speak to most of those local officials, they'd have, you
know, similar comments to what I have.
But I can tell you when I watch those boxes come in and they're locked and they're going
to vault and you can be assured locally that our elections are secure, they're safe,
and I would urge you to get out, get out and vote.
Yeah, we need you to be informed.
We need you to vote.
We also need good poll workers.
We need people out there doing that work as well.
And keeping in mind, too, with all of this, when you are out there voting, treating each
other with respect and treating each other, these are fellow Americans.
These are your neighbors.
These are people that you should be treating with respect, not just of people that are
voting, but the poll workers in particular.
Let's get back to treating each other with respect.
Let's get back to some of that because these are volunteers.
My daughter is a poll worker and she has been since she was 18.
She's very proud to be in the way that our poll workers, I shouldn't have to worry about
my daughter being a poll worker on election day.
That's not something that should be and that's not, that falls on all of us as a society.
It's really easy to point the finger.
It's really easy to say the younger generation this or the problem is this or whatever.
Let's take some responsibility and let's treat each other right and let's look out for
each other and let's look off for our poll workers that are trying to keep democracy alive.
Well, you know, you touched on earlier, time is the most valuable commodity period.
And I hear people complain about security at the polls about exactly what you're talking.
And yet when I ask those people, in your daughter of a shining example of what can happen,
what I ask them, I said, have you ever volunteered?
Have you ever been there?
You know, I watch those people.
They sit there from early morning to late night because it's generally pretty hard to find
those people.
And then I hear them out on the community saying, I'm not sure what happens there.
I said, well, then maybe you ought to volunteer, get trained and be there.
And those problems won't exist.
But yeah, the time is the interesting one and it amazed me when we have the technology
that we have today.
And we travel.
I made the comment about a week ago.
I was at a conference in Nashville.
And I had to fly, I had to fly from there to Florida.
I got up at three in the morning.
At six o'clock I was on a plane and I was sitting in my office in Wisconsin Rapids before
noon.
And I had a three hour drive from the Milwaukee airport to get here.
You know, you think back in the horse and buggy days or prior to jet travel.
I mean, that would have been a multi-day trip or even later, certainly a 24 hour trip.
So sometimes I'm always amazed that even I have what I'd consider the lack of time.
I'm going, we're sitting there with computers.
I mean, some of those out there my age would remember, you know, you typed a college term
paper.
And if you made, if you had one wrong keystroke at the end and your professor is one of
those who said, uh-uh, no erasers, you'd retype the entire page.
Now you cut, edit, insert, correct, backspace, you know, delete, and I'm thinking we should
have more time.
But we don't.
I'm that's the reality.
You know, I used to pack my own kids up, get the car ready, run three businesses, I was
involved politically, and I got it done.
And now sometimes, you know, kids are growing up, I don't have to pack anybody or anything,
and I still don't have time.
Right.
So I'd like to know, where times get shorter, I don't know where the time go, where the time
go.
Yeah.
Lance, I'm sure that's one of the issues, but what are some of the main issues that
you're hearing as a board member from the community?
You know, this is actually, if there's such a thing, a somewhat quiet time of year.
You know, we get really deep in discussing the budget process, moving forward, discussions
with department heads, you know, at our level or any level of government, as you move forward.
You know, those get set, you get into the new year, and things are pretty well set,
and you move forward, unless you deal with the emergent situation that day, and that's
what I was, you know, you and I were joking about a little bit before we started, and I
mentioned it when we did start, but you know, you're going along in your city or your
county village, and you think something, everything's going to be good today.
And then all of a sudden, something happens, and you can spend the entire day, you know,
dealing with that emergent situation.
And again, it's something you and I talk about all the time.
I think the most important part of that, those transparency.
When something happens, there are very few exceptions.
The public needs to know whether it be for their own safety, whether it be just informational.
I mean, there are some things in investigations, let's say, that need to be kept confidential.
It's just the nature of the deal.
But those are really far and few between.
So as these things occur, and the big one we talked about on the news the other day,
you know, all the more, but you see this, it's, those people in charge get out and dispelling
rumors and shutting that down right away, you know, whether it be, I'm getting a little
out of local something, you know, is it, it would have been pretty easy to say, for
instance, a ship lost power, they did everything within, you know, within what they had available
to minimize the damage, the loss of life.
You think that could come out in an hour.
And when it doesn't, all of those conspiracies, whether it be local or not, start to creep
into the, the discussion.
So I always look at, you know, if you call me, I'm going to call you back as long as you
leave a number or a name.
And I think all local officials really need to do that.
I also encourage people to come to meetings.
Know what's gone.
Committee meetings are more important than entire board meetings.
Most of those decisions are made at the committee level.
By the time you get to the full board, they've been pretty fully vetted and it's pretty
hard to change somebody's mind in three minutes of public comment when you can have the discussion
ahead of time.
In that regard, Lance, when we were talking about elections and the importance of that,
another thing that you and I touch on from time to time is the importance of running
for running on board, being on a board, running for office, being involved in your community
and being involved in politics.
The more you said that this is something you encourage people to do as well.
We need more of this.
We need more people doing this.
It's part of the reason all the candidates we've been fortunate to have almost all of
our local candidates on the air with us in our morning show.
And a big thank you to all of them for joining us.
The first question I ask all of them, the same questions.
The first question I ask is, how have you been enjoying the experience as far as running
for office or if they had already served?
And we've had such good positive feedback with that question.
People have really enjoyed the process or enjoyed getting to know their community better.
We're always trying to encourage people to be more and more a part of public service.
I don't know if you and I have done this before though.
I want to go back to young Lance.
Not that you're not old, but young Lance.
Not pretty old.
I don't think so, but man, I hope I age like you do.
And it comes to you, young Lance, when you first started that you decide, I want to be
on a board.
I want to do something like this.
You mentioned that you were in politics when your kids were a little and everything.
What was it that sparked it for you?
You know, you want to go way back in history.
I think it somewhat becomes ingrained in you as it really is a child.
I mean, and that's why I say there's some parental responsibility, maybe to educate
your kids.
I was one of those who came in.
I was president of a junior high student council in the school of 1,000 people.
You know, so you're going, all right, I get in front of people, I talk to people.
You become involved in your community.
And I, you know, I'd leave out, and I don't care if it's, you know, the United Way or
the Boys and Girls Club or your own business, the, the Kiwanis, the Elks, the Lions, I could
go on and on.
And typically, somebody recognizes that you're willing to be involved.
And they ask you to run for office, and it's probably because of the accomplishments
you've had or the impact you maybe you've had on those board's committees or within
the community.
And most of us, like myself, said, you know, I think I could give a couple of years to
the county, in my case, it was the county.
So 15 elections ago, and then you realize that you do make a difference on a day-to-day
basis.
And about the time you think it's time for somebody else to step in, there's a lot of
typically local encouragement that says, you know, we'd like you to continue.
I don't know that they need you because there's always a replacement.
I mean, there's somebody there.
But as long as you're making a difference and you're doing it a positive way, I think
people tend to support you.
You know, I'm amazed.
I get yelled at on the phone, oftentimes, oftentimes I don't say a word and they've
resolved their own problem before the conversation's over.
And then occasionally, you're walking downtown, I had this happen just the other day, walked
into a local building and one of the local attorneys who's been here for years and years, walked
over in the haunt today.
So I want to thank you for all the years of service because it really is, you know, the
greatest extent, an unpaid, volunteer kind of deal.
I mean, you're not a member of Congress.
So I think you're, you know, you're trying to make a difference in a positive difference.
And you know, my kids always wanted to kill me.
I shouldn't even say it on the air, but they'd go, hey, dad, what are you doing today?
And my pad answer was, just going out to make the world a better place.
And then they start laughing and they give you a little bit of grief.
But I think if we all had that attitude, no, wherever we are, now there's a reluctance
to run for office because of the national narrative.
When you run for office at that level, you're pummeled every day.
And I tend to know, I typically know the candidate on both sides of the aisle in those partisan
races.
And I'll sit there and listen to these commercials and I'll go, they would have never
said that.
And then I'll hear the other one.
And they would have never said that either.
So you're, you know, you're criticized.
They dig into every bit of your past.
It becomes somewhat difficult.
But that's why I would encourage those people.
If you're not, if that scares you a little bit, there are a lot of opportunities that
I have at the county level.
In fact, just had one this week, I had a gentleman sent me a note that was really interested
in serving on the library board.
The libraries, what they do and the impact in the community is very important them.
And the gentleman got a letter to us.
I happened to meet him prior to the appointment.
And he's appointed a library board.
There's a lot of those boards that we have some input in and some impact with where you
don't have to run.
You just have to step up.
And there's, you know, there's wildlife committees and there's library boards and there's
workforce development.
There's a lot of places that you don't need to subject yourself to some of the things
you might not want to hear.
My next question and I appreciate you setting me up so well, Lance.
The question I've been asking our guests or candidates is my similar question to you.
But it's not, it's not so much.
When we talk about, okay, I love this job and I ask you, hey Lance, if you could do it
all over again, would you do it 99% of the time we say we would.
My real question is, would you want your kids getting involved in politics with what
you know and what you've experienced?
I look at this as an actor and I think about how much I love acting.
I love the craft.
I've wanted it since I was seven.
I don't want my kids anywhere near it.
I don't want anyone.
I love my kids.
I want them to have stable jobs.
I want them to be have a regular normal boring life and all that stuff.
Just in essence of that, would you want your kids involved in politics?
Yes.
Now, again, there's different levels of politics.
You know, we play outside of the partisan game.
You tend to know which side of the aisle somebody might lean to, but we don't end up there.
Not only do I encourage, and one of the lines again, I get beat up by my own kids, but
I often hear, and I hear this in the community too, they'll come to me and say, well, I don't
like the rules.
And my bad answer to that is, then be the rule maker.
And they say, what does that mean?
And they say, well, there are some issues at the end of the day, where my decision is
fairly impactful on what happens going forward.
Now, on any other board and anywhere else, whether you remember a congress or a town board,
a county board, city council, I get one vote like everybody else.
But I think often times that people look at A, your experience, maybe B, your demeanor,
the fact that you're willing to listen.
In my case, I say, you know, if you said what's your greatest strength, the ability to change
my mind, you know, I always say, if I had the information yesterday, with the decision
I had to make today, I might have made a different decision.
And I think the willingness to change direction a little bit, to listen to others and to get
all that input and then say, hey, I was wrong.
Or maybe I'm not completely wrong, but there's a better way.
So I encourage them.
I said, you know, if you don't like what's going on, get involved in their hour levels where
I mean, you really aren't scrutinized to the level that those members of Congress are.
It's one thing for us to encourage people to be a part of public service.
It's another to look at ourselves to do it or asking our children to do it.
So it's essence of the question.
And I appreciate the honesty and the transparent answer.
And I couldn't agree with you more.
I want the same thing for my kids.
Not into acting, but I definitely want them involved in politics and caring and being
on boards.
And I'm very fortunate with that.
And I think a lot of us can relate to that.
Lance, as we're wrapping up here, the conversation, board meetings coming up any topics that
we shouldn't let the public know about.
And maybe they can, they want to attend these meetings and take them in.
Well, the next meeting, you know, we had our county board, our March meeting was the
last meeting that that board sits in that exact configuration, because the elections
upcoming.
And there's some committee meetings that will happen prior to the board meeting, but
the April board meeting statewide, not just in Wood County, is the organizational meeting.
It's where new board members are seated.
Everybody is sworn in again.
A new county board chairman is elected as well as a vice chair and a second vice chair.
And then at that point, the county board chairman sits down, usually with help from a
vice chair and starts a set of the committees.
In our county, once the committees are set within a couple of days, again, by county board
rule, those committees sit down and elect their committee chair.
So in their respect, it gets kind of busy.
When I look at committees, I try to not only have, I try to set committees up, at least
when I bend the county board chair, where there's a multitude of viewpoints and ideas.
And then there is some consideration geographically, you know, it doesn't make any sense for me
to have, for instance, everybody at Lissana Highway Committee from Marshfield or everybody
on a human service committee from Wisconsin Rapids.
There is some consideration in their respect, as well as expertise in the other.
So it, from a county perspective, a real busy time.
I mean, we go election, you know, bang, bang, you're at that first meeting, the organizational
meeting.
We're into committee appointments and then within, boy, a couple of days of that, they have
to sit down and elect their chairman, they're scheduling their first meetings.
And off we are running again, as we start to look at, you know, next year's budgets, priorities,
and where we go.
Lance, appreciate the time, as always, if people have questions, want to know more about
something what we talked about today, how can they get in touch with you?
Well, you can call me, my number, I always give my number out, but it's in the book.
It's on the website, as well as, you know, you can text me, email me, call me.
But if you call me, leave your name or your number, I'm always amazed, they go, call
me back.
So I don't know, I have any idea who it is, I don't have a caller ID on my own phone.
All calls are anonymous, coming in, I'm kind of like crime staff.
Sure, sure.
But getting in touch with Lance with any of your follow-up questions and Lance, always
appreciate the time.
Thanks again for joining us.
Thank you, James.
I always appreciate it.
And appreciate our friends over at Wisconsin's Rapids Community Media, the gang over there.
Follow and subscribe to their page on YouTube and keep up the date and the great work that
they are doing.
Well, a more midday magazine coming up for you right here at 97-5 FM, 13-20 AM, WFHR,
locally grown radio.
