February Update: County Newsletter
Happy February all,
I am happy to report that we’ve had a bit more action on the County Board after some period of relative dormancy. I was very pleased to see folks showing up to give comments at our legislative committee meeting; as always, your voices are the ones that make the biggest difference and that provide us with the direction that we need to follow.
In the Human Services committee on February 3rd, we had a presentation from Jeannine Field at KHDS. This organization does so much for Kenosha, and our most vulnerable community members are in good hands with them. One of the services they provide are hotel vouchers for unhoused folks when the weather gets cold. In a “normal” winter, this program runs well with the budget they have, but with the extreme and prolonged cold snaps we had in January, the program has been stretched to its limit. Churches have been working to fill in the gaps, but these band-aid solutions are not enough. The committee did some brainstorming with Jeannine, and we are hoping to implement some kind of “state of emergency” protocol to protect unhoused residents of Kenosha during periods of prolonged cold. The details of this are a bit tricky, and we are working with the different county services that would need to be involved to figure out how it would work, but I am optimistic that with enough pressure we can work something out. Our current lack of any emergency plan for cold in the state of Wisconsin is frankly a huge failure, and I am hoping we can do better. Thankfully, February’s weather has been forgiving, but, inevitably, winter will come again.
The Legislative Committee meeting had 4 resolutions come to the floor worth discussion. The first was a resolution from Supervisor Decker that would approve a grant application that supports Medicaid coverage for folks incarcerated in our jail system. This would essentially ensure that inmates that are scheduled for release would receive Medicaid coverage for 90 days prior to their release date. This would provide continuity between the support they are provided in jail and the medical coverage they will receive on release. This is particularly important for those struggling with addiction. Currently, the medical care for inmates is covered by the county budget until their release date, so this would be one of those rare occurrences where we save money and serve our incarcerated population better. It was a unanimous yes vote.
Next, we discussed Supervisor Morrissey’s resolution to push back against rulemaking related to wireless deployments. This is in reference to a recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the FCC seeking comments on “reforms that would streamline the deployment of towers and other wireless infrastructure.” These reforms would essentially take power away from local municipalities and counties to regulate the building of new infrastructure related to the expansion and improvement of wireless capabilities. While everyone concedes that building wireless infrastructure is important in our current world, the committee generally felt that local municipalities and counties should maintain autonomy around regulations, as they understand their own communities, ecosystems, and the needs of their residents. Sup. Morrissey’s resolution is consistent with other county associations, mayor’s associations, and others who have passed similar resolutions, and it simply states that we don’t support this kind of railroading of our power to regulate this infrastructure. Several members of the community showed up in support of this resolution, and it passed unanimously.
The next two resolutions came from Supervisor Nudo. The first was to adjust the time of the County Board meetings from 7:30 pm to 6:30 pm; he said that the later time of the meeting discouraged some of his constituents from attending and providing comments. I pushed back on this a little bit (even though I do wake up at 3:30 am most days, and I also don’t love a late meeting). I felt that an earlier start time could discourage young professionals and parents from becoming engaged (either from running for office or attending meetings). We compromised at a 7 pm start time, and the resolution passed unanimously.
The last resolution from Supervisor Nudo suggested reducing the County Board from 23 supervisors to 17. His rationale was that with increasing technology, it is easier to reach a wider audience, and the reduced number of supervisors would be more fiscally responsible. I appreciate all the folks who reached out to me in opposition to this, and I spoke in opposition on your behalf during the meeting, as did other supervisors. In general, the committee agreed that having smaller districts allows us to have closer relationships with our constituents, and the districts out west would have to be quite geographically large, making it quite difficult for those supervisors to connect with their constituents. We agreed that in the future, in response to a census count, we might consider reducing the size of the county board, but this was not the way to do it. The resolution did not receive a second and failed on the committee floor.
All the resolutions that passed in committee will be voted on at the County Board meeting on March 3rd, so if you feel strongly about any of them, please attend and make your voices heard! I appreciate all of you, and i hope you enjoy the inevitable second false spring followed by real spring 🙂
Take care of yourselves.
Links:
Human Services Committee (Feb. 3): https://www.youtube.com/live/aJB5GncyEy8?si=ceUvi10CQFRg0waF
County Board Meeting (Feb. 3): https://www.youtube.com/live/Mn1HsrqWpHo?si=F6nGsbmKLVCmB-1e
Legislative Committee (Feb. 18): https://www.youtube.com/live/g8JpJe6Evmc?si=lgItdPHGOMZ9ae8p
County Board Meeting (Feb. 18): https://www.youtube.com/live/VbvsWL22BTU?si=wcTCTIl-66lBa6X8