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I am an Industrial Engineer by education and a Project Manager by profession. I have spent a majority of my working career and excel at bringing order to chaos: assessing needs, developing options, planning the execution and delivering solutions. All skills needed in a government setting.
Governmentally, I have been serving on the Winnebago County Board of Health (since 2000), was on the Town of Algoma Planning & Zoning Board (2008-09), have been a regular participant at County and Town Board mtgs, and have advocated State representatives in Madison for the WI Hospitals Association. That being said, I feel I am familiar with the operations of our local and state governments.
On the Community side, I volunteer with the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, World Relief, Church Council, St. Vincent de Paul, Mercy Hospital, Repair Café, and the Town of Oshkosh Neighborhood Litter Pick Up. With this, I am able to appreciate firsthand the wide range of needs of our community.
First, if the County hasn’t already done so, we should look to invest and implement any/all” low-hanging fruit” energy improvement initiatives that have an ROI of less than 5 years (i.e. LED Lighting, heating/cooling efficiency upgrades, windows/doors air flow). Clearly, all future build plans should review and consider energy efficient options. That just makes sense, financially and environmentally.
Yes, renewable energy should be considered, as a consumer, not as a creator. I do not believe the County government should be in the business of investing in / creating renewable energy, rather we should facilitate an environment (rules, regulations, land usage, tax breaks) so as to attract private enterprises to set up renewable energy capture operations (sun, wind). We may want to consider using ARPA / Spirit Fund dollars to facilitate us doing so … as those funds were intended for local communities to stimulate their economies by investing in infrastructure of which all will benefit.
I feel the top two issues facing Winnebago County are the budget deficit and attracting/retaining talented people to live in the County.
In the past, our County has relied heavily on federal and state funding to help pay for the provision of core services. With these funding sources being significantly cut, we need to figure out how to do more with less, requiring effective communication/cooperation with our service providers/partners.
We need to continue to make Winnebago County affordable; providing opportunities to allow our citizens the ability to live, find a job, raise a family and retire here. Having access to food, health care and recreation is key to making this happen. The County must continue to deliver core services to its citizens, but more importantly, reduce the red tape to do business in our County. Fair and reasonable regulations will attract businesses and workers, which will result in a thriving community in which people earn and spend their money.
The Spirit fund are federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. The intent of these funds was to assist with the recovery from the pandemic by stimulating local communities to invest in public health, the economy and infrastructure. These funds provide flexibility for governments to address local needs, support households, businesses and essential services impacted by the pandemic, and invest in community resilience. Let’s do just that!
The application, vetting and approval process the County put into place for the first round of funding allocations seemed to have worked well. I would support continuing to execute this process for the remainder of the funds. I don’t have any pet projects, but I would like to see investment in any good ideas dealing with services provided to our community, job creation/retention, housing and recreation. I recommend we spend this money on “one off” projects as opposed to creating a new operation that will need tax levy dollars in future years.
I think the County, along with neighboring communities and private enterprises, are doing all they can, within their jurisdiction, to facilitate the construction of “new housing”. This addresses the housing crisis, but it doesn’t make it affordable.
I believe the County, as mentioned above, should streamline their rules and regulations so as to lower the barrier of entry, for new housing, but more so for re-constructing existing housing units. Specifically, the county should focus its efforts on ensuring that all homes in Winnebago County are inhabitable and that they are inhabited. Dormant properties throughout the county can and should be an additional source of affordable housing.
