New County Board Chair on 2024 projects and priorities.
By Tina Tryggestad, La Crosse County Board Chair
In 2024, La Crosse County will take bold steps to improve the infrastructure that is the bedrock of our local economy and community. I am proud and humbled that I will have a role in guiding those steps as the new chair of the La Crosse County Board. To be clear, when I say infrastructure, I don’t just mean the roads and bridges that keep our county moving. I also mean social infrastructure, like the services provided by county nurses and social workers, or our senior nutrition program that serves meals to hundreds of older adults five days a week.
The county employs 1,060 public servants and they will always be our most important asset. They are the workers up in the early hours of the morning to answer 9-1-1 calls, drive snowplows, or respond to mental health crises. As chair, one of my goals will be to champion our county employees and the vital work they do to strengthen and protect our community.
This will be my fifth term on the county board, including two terms as chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. That experience has given me an understanding of the breadth of services your county government provides. Another goal of mine will be to better communicate the scale and scope of the county’s programs and services.
Major initiatives on the county’s agenda this year include the $19.6 million plan to redevelop Hillview, our long-term care campus on the southside of La Crosse. The plan includes a 35-bed Community Based Residential Facility and an Intergenerational Day Center (daycare for children and respite care for older adults in an integrated setting). There also are plans for 10 units of housing and a four-bed crisis stabilization unit. Each of these elements is an attempt to address longstanding problems in our community, while securing Hillview’s future for its current residents. About 70% of Hillview’s residents receive public assistance and many would have nowhere else to go if Hillview was not an option. Our plan will ensure Hillview’s financial sustainability.
I’m equally excited to support the implementation of Pathways Home, the city-county homelessness response plan. Skepticism about the initiative is understandable, but I believe the new, coordinated approach will be successful. The key is that this plan is focused on long-term, sustainable solutions, not short-term fixes. I am confident we will see progress over the coming months.
La Crosse County’s programs impact people in every part of our county, rural and urban. Our highways and bridges connect homes, businesses, and schools. In 2024 the county will take big strides to improve those roads, with 14.8 miles of road reconstruction planned through the largest capital investment on record. La Crosse County Library locations in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, and West Salem act as community centers for all. The county’s Land Conservation team works with landowners to preserve precious farmland and improve our waterways. Last year, one in five county residents was impacted by our County Human Services Department, through programs that help people with mental health, aging, economic support, and much more.
All of these programs, powered by county employees, are about bringing people together to improve the quality of life for anyone lucky enough to call La Crosse County home. In that spirit of unity, let’s work together to keep our county moving forward.