While April is National County Month, La Crosse County government has not always been as visible as some other levels of government.  Yet the County Board and our employees are serving taxpayers, residents and visitors each and every day, “making a difference” that people count on.   Whether it’s:

·         helping someone who’s  recently become unemployed, or

·          responding to a major emergency, effectively maintaining public records, or

·         protecting public health and the environment, or

·         preserving public safety by operating  the County Jail, Courts, Patrol and Investigation, or

·         serving people with diminished health or mental capacity in our nursing homes,

·         seeing that the elderly, young mothers and children receive healthy nutrition, or

·         working with individuals and families in crisis, or

·         making sure that parents provide appropriate support & care for their kids;

·         maintaining roads throughout all of our seasons, or

·         operating a state-of-the art solid waste disposal system. 

The services County government provides are foundational to our high quality of life in La Crosse, and we continue to do all of this and more.   We could spend a great deal of time highlighting creative approaches by County employees throughout the organization in every Department in County government. 

The most recent example of creative approaches that leverage resources for maximum impact is in energy efficiency.  La Crosse County has been notified by the Department of Commerce, Office of Energy Independence, of a grant award for $219,400 providing significant funding toward three energy efficiency projects:   Two Solar Hot Water systems for two different County Buildings ($100,000 each) and a start in funding for the highly visible community lighting project ($19,400 toward conversion of Rotary Lights to LED). 

These grant dollars come from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, authorized in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus plan. 

These dollars will be matched by local funding and Focus on Energy rewards.   The full cost of the Two Solar Water projects will be supported by $74,000 Focus on Energy reward and $74,000 from the County.   While a one time match of the grant amount for the conversion of Rotary Lights to LED will be requested from both the County and City.  When combined with annual lighting replacement expense, this would provide half of the amount needed to convert to LED.  The remaining will need to be raised through community fundraising.

 2010 County Complete County Committee (CCCC)

Is there such a thing as too much talk about the census?  Your CCC Committee doesn’t think so.  I have personally worked in the last 3 census enumerations.  In 1990 there was an average survey return of 65% in our county.  In 2000 we had an average return of only 72%.    The expense of having census workers knock on the doors of those 28 out of 100 homes is a complete waste of time and resources.  Census workers have to go to each home up to 6 times if the people do not respond by filling out the surveys  or completely.  This is why we volunteered to help get an accurate count.

Population plays a key role in federal funding formulas.  It does not matter what we think our population estimates should be, it’s the population the US Census comes up with.  I have seen dollar numbers ranging from $270 per person to $740 per person from federal funding sources depending on the project.  If the county’s count were off 10% in its returns or non response, that would be about 11,200 people missed or between $3,024,000 and $8,288,000 per year over the next 10 years.  We volunteered to help bring in the money!

Your CCC Committee has taken our commitment for a complete count very seriously and without a budget. Some counties budgeted over $40,000.  For the first time in history the census used our local address listings.  We found the census address list was missing or wrong on over 1,900 addresses in the towns and 4 villages alone.  The 2 cities supplied their own updated address lists.  We volunteered to make our addresses and maps available to the nose counters.

We’ve had telephone calls from people who didn’t know what the census was and asked do I have to fill out answers to all the questions.  Many of these people were in their teens last time the census was taken.  Many more people didn’t know the decennial count was mandated by the US Constitution and was a federal responsibility.  This is why we embraced our roles distributing literature and promotional items; and, organized speeches before minority groups, civic events and schools. 

Early 2011 you will see the results of the census. The new population will be used for re-districting county board seats, the Electoral College votes, and creating legislative and congressional district boundaries.  The economic prospects of our county, as well as our own sense of growth all hinge on a simple mailing back of the completed survey forms.  This is why we helped!        

Jeff Bluske, Director

Zoning, Planning & Land Information

Thank you, Steve Doyle and Steve O'Malley