June Update: County Newsletter
Happy June Kenosha County. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying everything summer has to offer in our community. It is pride month, and as an openly queer person, I want to acknowledge the history of our queer and trans activists who fought for civil rights for LGBTQ people across the country. Currently in Kenosha, we are in a state of flux in terms of our LGBTQ resources. The LGBTQ Center of Southeast Wisconsin closed a few months ago, and volunteers from that organization are in the process of building a new center to provide resources for our queer community. Please reach out if you have any questions about existing resources, and I am happy to connect people.
On the County Board, there have been a few notable events that have happened in the past month. At the June 3rd meeting, the board voted on a resolution to reduce the minimum age of sheriff’s deputies from 21 to 19. I heard from many constituents who voiced apprehension about this resolution as well as members of the community who showed up and spoke at the meeting. My position when it comes to law enforcement is that my highest priority is building trust between the community and the police–it seemed to me that this move would compromise that trust, so I couldn’t support it. The resolution passed 17-5, with most voting in favor of the resolution. The majority position was that the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office was missing out on possible talent because the City of Kenosha hires deputies at age 18. We all had very respectful conversations and every person who voted the way they did expressed their point of view and sought to hear the opinions of those who disagreed. While the vote didn’t reflect my position, I thought the whole proceeding was very encouraging in terms of functional democracy.
In our human services meeting on June 3rd, we heard from the department about their annual report. Much of this data is available on their data dashboard online (linked here and regularly updated on their website), so you can see all the resources the county continues to provide to the community. One thing I’d like to flag is that the KAC Care-a-van is ending their services due to the fact that they were taking a pretty large financial loss providing the service. There are other ways to access transportation, and if this is something you care about, the portion of the meeting recording linked here provides more information.
There hasn’t been much more County Board business to report on apart from several appointments to positions or zoning ordinances. Supervisor Belsky did provide an update to some goings on at the Kemper Center, including that they are looking to have more public events with sponsors, so if you know of a company that would like to sponsor Music at Twilight or other events at the Kemper Center, please reach out to me and I can connect you with the right people. They are also hiring a curator and a bookkeeping position, if anyone knows of qualified candidates there. As the summer proceeds, please make sure to let me know there are persistent noise concerns. It is wedding season, and I know there have been complaints about events; we want the Kemper Center and Anderson Arts to be a boon to the community, and the fact that they are situated close to people’s homes should be a benefit, not a nuisance. I appreciate everyone who keeps me updated, so we can have a positive mutual relationship in the neighborhood.
I hope everyone has a lovely summer; I hope to see you all around. Take care.
Recordings:
June 3rd County Board Meeting: https://www.youtube.com/live/JZ9j8RLtiG4?si=FKCz_ASE1vA-yPBf
June 3rd Human Services Meeting: https://www.youtube.com/live/gmRduaNZ_qY?si=SS-7dA-zYWsT_9rn
June 17th County Board Meeting: https://www.youtube.com/live/KQKdfQ11-ck?si=BYxVtnp9euUeCIE_