The Winnebago County Board in Wisconsin is the county's legislative body, composed of 36 Supervisors who set policies, approve budgets, establish tax levies, and oversee county services, operating under state law and county rules to represent their constituents and promote community well-being, meeting monthly in Oshkosh. This is a non-partisan position. Elected supervisors serve a 2-year term.
I have served as Town Chairman for the Town of Omro since 2007. I serve as the Winnebago County Unit Chair for the Wisconsin Towns Association. I am the secretary for the Southern Winnebago County EMS District. I have been involved in local government for many years and understand how county government works and many of the issues the county is facing.
All new buildings and alterations to building should be made with energy efficiency in mind; not just the immediate short-term cost, the long-term costs, along with the operational and maintenance costs factored into the decision. If renewable energy is determined to be the most efficient with the above in mind, then it should be used.
The current backlog in building maintenance as determined by the county's facilities study, will result in many building projects. How these projects are completed will shape the way county services are provided for years to come. Before construction, a review of how services are provided should be undertaken to determine if there is a more efficient or better way to provide them and make sure projects are designed with that in mind.
We have a good quality of life in Winnebago County, and we need to find ways to keep that affordable for the people living in the County. Before raising of taxes, there needs to be a review and discussion on how services can be more efficiently provided and planned for to provide long term sustainability. This should involve more long-term planning and budgeting to avoid having to make quick decisions at budget time when there is not enough time to develop better options than just taxing more.
One-time money should be used for one-time expenses that are for essential services and making the costs of providing those services more economically. If one-time capital improvements can be used to provide for better and efficient service and help reduce on going future expenses that investment can have a lasting effect.
The definition of affordable housing is different to many different people. Over the last few years this has been discussed at numerous committee and board meetings and there has not been a consensus on any one definition of affordable housing. Rather than creating another program, it would be more efficient to work with municipalities that are working to add housing to their communities as each community sees fit. Any county program needs to be evaluated to make sure the desired outcome is attainable without incurring a large administrative cost that takes away from the end goal of investing in housing. Additionally, any program for housing should support itself without creating additional demands for services to be paid for by the taxpayers. All development needs to be sustainable for the long term, so people can afford to live in the community after everything is built.
I am a family medicine physician of 27 years and I am also a very active participant in keeping up to date with current events. I understand the needs of the people and the community. As a physician I am very concerned about the healthcare of the community.
We have so much wind here, I would think that would be a very efficient way to improve the energy efficiency as well as the escalation of solar energy and we could add incentives and subsidies for people to move in this direction. We also have a great deal of talented hard working individuals who will be able to assist with the needed infrastructure and housing and renewable energy needed to advance for the future of Winnebago County's citizens.
We have health care issues; we have an epidemic of people on controlled substances. We also have housing issues with poor housing and unaffordable housing. I also have issue with drainage systems of our neighborhoods and would propose much better runoff of the excessive precipitation that occurs frequently. All these issues relate to healthcare. Escalating controlled substance use is a threat to increased numbers of citizens dependent on medication that may be unnecessary. Poor housing and housing costs significantly decrease the mental health and outlook for the citizens of the community. There are a number of neighborhoods with a significant amount of standing water than can also harbor organisms that can affect the health and well being of both citizens and the wildlife in the area,
I would propose construction of windmill energy, solar energy and affordable housing and treatment programs for those with dependency issues. I would also encourage increased education to the public concerning the benefits of immunization. The reduction in immunization due to disinformation has escalated and this has had a negative effect on the spread of infectious diseases that would normally be better controlled with improved frequency of vaccinations,
Their role should be to establish qualified contractors for hire and establish a committee to identify areas of the county where affordable housing could be established for at least 1000 or as many residents as the budget could afford. Also establish contractors to assist with increasing renewable energy with both the windmill development and increasing solar energy as well as improving the displacement of excess precipitation so there is not a great deal of sitting water for greater than 24-48 hours; this requires regrading with topsoil, installing French drains, aerating the lawn or creating rain gardens to manage runoff.
