Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen Issues Formal Opinion on Power of County Boards to Enact Ordinance Requiring Competitive Bidding for Highway Projects

MADISON — Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen today issued a formal opinion to Brown County Corporation Counsel John F. Luetscher concluding that a county board in a county with a county executive cannot enact an ordinance requiring competitive bidding on a joint county-municipal highway project.

In a county with a county executive, the highway commissioner possesses the statutory authority to determine whether or not county highway department employees will perform the work on joint highway projects. The opinion reasons that, because the statutes provide that the highway commissioner is supervised by the county executive rather than by the county board, the county board may not enact such an ordinance.

Formal and informal opinions issued by Attorney General Van Hollen are available here.

A copy of the Attorney General's opinion and request are available at the following link: