VOTE411 Voter Guide

I am running for reelection to continue policies where La Crosse County provides great services at an affordable tax rate. La Crosse County ranks 5th per capita for the lowest tax rate among Wisconsin's 72 counties. While affordable taxes are important, La Crosse County still provides incredible services with those taxes. La Crosse County is on the cutting edge in providing services for those with mental health, reducing recidivism by creating and maintaining treatment courts, serving our seniors through the ADRC and other county programs, and providing amazing support for our seniors and veterans. La Crosse County, in collaboration with the City, has made great strides in reducing homelessness; we still have a long way to go. I will continue supporting Pathways Home and making sure we continue reducing homelessness. I will continue to advocate for common sense ordinances, including ordinances that protect our community from unregulated data centers.

The County's responsibilities are significantly different than the City's responsibilities. In an era in which we are seeing services cut, I want to maintain and expand existing county services that benefit District 3.

County services in District 3 that are most impactful include the Pathways Home plan to reduce homelessness -- we need to see this plan through as a community. In addition, the County provides grants Neighborhood Revitalization grants. These grants help fund the cost for landowners to replace dilapidated or unsafe housing and replace it with new, safe housing. This is a county wide program that I would support expanding-- we need to get ugly, unsafe housing out of the northside and replace it with safe, affordable housing for families.

There are so many important issues, some discussed in other questions. Here are two that have not been previously discussed:

1) Expensive effects of the opioid epidemic: Even though La Crosse County had a significant decrease in overdose last year, the County still is dealing with the impact of the opioid epidemic on folks in our community. In addition, the County is responsible when children of addicts need out of home placement -- it is very expensive for the County to house children out of home for an extended time period.

2) Protecting the Environment: La Crosse County has implemented a Climate Action Plan so that we can respond to the impacts of climate change and mitigate future harm. Throughout Wisconsin, we continue to see communities overrun by large data centers that do not have enough accountability to protect the environment.

1) Last year, La Crosse County implemented a 10-year opioid response plan funded by about $7.6 million in settlement money from opioid manufacturers and distributors. This money will fund Medication-assisted treatment in the county jail (which is important for folks to free themselves from addiction), Recovery housing and treatment programs, and hiring social workers to help people transition out of jail. These programs aim to reduce jail admissions, improve treatment access, and keep families together, but they require sustained funding and coordination across the justice and health systems. Importantly, these funds will help fund programs for the children of folks that were harmed by addiction.

2) We do not know enough about data centers and their impact on the environment. Until we know more, La Crosse County would benefit from a moratorium on data centers and new zoning policies to protect the environment and residents from unknown issues caused by data centers.