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I was first elected to the County Board in 2012 and want to continue the County’s good work of providing needed services while keeping taxes the 5th lowest in the State. I have previously served for over 20 years as a citizen member of the City of La Crosse’s CDBG Committee, have worked for the La Crosse Public Library and served a two year term in the City Council ( 2013-2015). When my children were younger I was a Girl Scout and 4-H leader. I currently serve on five County committees and chair the Southwest Housing Region CDBG Committee. This experience has given me the ability to work with many different people, who may have many different viewpoints. Collaboration and consensus building are important skills to bring to local government. I care about the residents of La Crosse County and want to make our County the best place to live, work and thrive.

I have always been interested in having quality affordable housing available to residents. My district has actually benefited from a program that was developed to replace dilapidated housing in some of the older neighborhoods in the City of La Crosse. I have served on the County’s Neighborhood Revitalization Grant Review Committee since it was started in 2016 to help revitalize the City’s housing by providing grants for demolition and subsequent construction of new housing. Building on established housing sites is more expensive than building on a greenfield site. The idea was not only to increase available housing, but also increase the City’s tax base and the program has been very successful. The Washburn and Powell Poage Hamilton Neighborhoods have benefited. The County Board recently expanded the program to the rest of the County using ARPA funding. I would like to see La Crosse County continue this program, making sure the City continues to have grant funding available.

La Crosse County does a great job of providing mandated State services and keeping taxes low for residents. The PFAS contamination in the Town of Campbell and housing our unsheltered community members are two issues that also need to be considered by the County.

La Crosse County provided the Town of Campbell with funding to drill a test well to see if there was uncontaminated water in a lower aquifer, and the Town did find an uncontaminated water source. The County also voted on a resolution in December 2023 stating that the Health Department advises anyone drilling new wells to follow DNR precautions, in order to protect the wells from upper aquifer contamination. The PFAS issue in the Town of Campbell will require State and Federal funding to fix, and needs specific DNR regulation. Housing our unsheltered community members is a complex problem which is not getting easier. The County has funded temporary housing for the unsheltered during Covid. The new City/ County homeless plan, Pathways Home, looks to provide specific resources tailored to each individual experiencing homelessness. This is a new approach, and I am hopeful that this data driven plan will provide the structure needed to help people succeed in finding and keeping housing.