Tri-County Council’s lease with Vilas County expires

The Tri-County Council on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault has moved out of the space it had leased on the second floor of the Vilas County Courthouse in Eagle River to conduct outreach service for clients.

Vilas, Forest and Oneida counties make up the Tri-County Council with its administrative office in Rhinelander and “promotes non-violence as a life choice and provides a safe environment for persons in crisis,” according to its website.

The Vilas County lease with Tri-County was a topic of discussion at the Oct. 8 meeting of the county board’s public property committee, the consensus there to try to find a way to assist Tri-County with what it does, even if the agency moved from the space that had been leased from the county.

 Prompting the discussion at the committee meeting was a letter dated Sept. 30 the county had received from Angie Fanning, Tri-County’s executive director. 

“It is with deep heartbreak that we are writing to inform you of a drastic budget change,” she wrote. “By no fault of our own, our largest grant VOCA (Victim of Crime Act) has been reduced by 77 percent, effective October 1, 2024. This has forced us to make immediate and significant changes to our operations, services, and structure.”

In the days following the Oct. 8 public property meeting, there had been research conducted by Vilas County clerk Kim Olkowski and the county’s finance director, Darcy Smith, to come up with a cost figure and possible resolution to withdraw funds from the county’s general fund to assist the agency. 

Monday, Olkowski told The Lakeland Times the office space Tri-County had been leasing in the court house has been vacated by the agency. 

“They’re not able to sign anything as far as a lease goes because everything is kind of unknown at this point,” she said, reiterating as had been indicated at the Oct. 8 meeting of the public property committee there is space the county could provide for agency outreach if needed. 

“We’re just kind of going to play it by ear, I guess, and see how it goes,” Olkowski said. 

The reality

Fanning confirmed Monday Tri-County has moved out of the second floor office space it had been leasing in the Vilas County courthouse and aside from that, “nothing else has changed a whole lot” as outreach efforts by Tri-County staff continues in all three counties.

“When somebody calls for an appointment, we’ll try to schedule all the appointments on the same day because our mileage is pretty limited,” she said. “For now, we’re just seeing what the need is and looking at the numbers for the counties, there’s a need whether it’s going for the big court days or intake days ... whatever those days look like so that we have a better chance to connect with victims.”

Fanning said if necessary, “it doesn’t take much” for a Tri-County outreach worker, or advocate, to “sit in the courtroom.”

“It’s a delicate thing to try and approach victims but my advocates have a good way of doing that,” she said. “It’s easier, you know, to say ‘Tri-County is here’ and victims would know where to go but it’s great that they (Vilas County) would have a place for us to go and meet with victims. It’s just a ... people knowing we’re there kind of thing.”

As far as any grant funding for the work Tri-County staff does, Fanning said there’s “nothing new on the horizon.”

“We still have the VOCA grant, which is the one that was cut,” Fanning said. “We have a victim services grant through the state of Wisconsin. That one is pretty minimal. It’s not a very big grant by any means and never really has been.”

She said there are two other grants the agency applies for through the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF), one which covers the cost for Tri-County’s shelter and the other that helps fund Tri-County’s services for victims of domestic violence. 

“They’re not huge grants but they’re now bigger than VOCA,” Fanning said. “There’s a grant I’ve applied for that’s still sitting out there through the DOJ (U.S. Department of Justice). I think they award 50 for the whole country so the chances of winning that ... if that’s something we get, it would probably be a miracle. It’s for $500,000 and I wrote that grant application for victim assistance.”

She does anticipate more grant funding becoming available in the next year which is why, she said, she’s been “looking for possible volunteers for grant writing.”

“It’s something I’m not incapable of doing but the time piece is difficult for me,” Fanning said. “That’s where we’re really going to need that support is from someone who knows how to write those grants especially for non-profits.”

She said Tri-County at one time had six full-time victims’ advocates on-staff, but that number is now four and they conduct outreach services “on a limited basis” that include the Crandon and Eagle River areas. 

“We’re still able to offer that mobile advocacy,” Fanning said. “We’ve never really had to use it in those terms before because we’ve had permanent offices but there are other agencies around the state of Wisconsin that have been doing this type of mobile advocacy. It really is about meeting someone where they are as long as its safe, private and accessible.”

She said another challenge is the rural nature of the Tri-County service area.

“People don’t have transportation,” Fanning said. “They’re just so far away from the main office ... the ability for us to go and meet them in those places is something we’ve always been able to do, permanent office or not.”

That’s something, she said, the agency will continue to plan on doing even though there is, unfortunately, a catch. 

“It’s just that it’s when we’re available not when you’re in a crisis which is hard to be OK with,” Fanning said. “That’s the reality of it when we’re limited on funds.”

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].