It’s the part of Dane County Board meetings that never gets mentioned in news stories about Dane County Board meetings — until there’s a proposal to get rid of it.

The meetings typically open with "special matters" — resolutions honoring an athletic feat, act of heroism, long-time public servant or death of a noteworthy figure; 10-minute presentations on various topics; or an official proclamation, such as recognizing October as Italian-American Heritage month — but a new proposal seeks to eliminate the segment from the meetings.

Sup. John Hendrick, of Madison, submitted the proposal on a handwritten piece of paper at last week’s board meeting after the special matters and announcements took an hour and the rest of the meeting lasted only 40 minutes. Each resolution is read, and the honoree sometimes says a few words.

"It’s been misused to a certain degree," said Sup. Patrick Miles, of McFarland, who co-sponsored the ordinance amendment. "When we start getting into things like honoring a high school wrestler — nothing against him, academics are great — there’s a lot of people who have made similar accomplishments. If we begin reading resolutions, it will make for very long meetings."

Others on the County Board defended the honors, saying the proposal to cut the resolutions resulted from the one meeting, which was unusual.

"We hear so much in the news about negative things, it’s important to highlight the positive," said Sup. Dianne Hesselbein, of Middleton, who sponsored the wrestler resolution.

But even Ed Brummel, the father of the Middleton High School wrestler — Ben Brummel, who was honored for his WIAA Division 1 state championship — admits the honor seemed more about the politicians.

"It is good to point out positives, but are there better things to do?" Brummel asked.

The board typically takes up between one and three honors each meeting, though rarely any during the budget process in the fall. In the latest two-year term of the board, there have been 37 honors bestowed, almost the same as the last term over the same time period.

Dale Bruhn, who was honored last week for serving 14 years on a county committee, said he was grateful.

"I think it’s a good idea for the County Board to know what some of the citizens of the county are doing to assist or better the community," Bruhn said. "It’s better than some of the time they waste on some of these national issues in which they have no influence anyway."