Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Reid Magney: County board priorities and size

By REID MAGNEY / La Crosse Tribune

La Crosse County supervisors will gather today at Forest Hills, not for golf, but to talk about the coming year.

Every year the board gets together for a retreat, at which members

discuss their goals and priorities. Board Chairman Steve Doyle also gives his “state of the county” speech.

The meeting starts at noon and is open to the public. For those who care about county issues, including the budget, this meeting is a great opportunity to learn about the issues in-depth and get a preview of what’s coming up.

Reducing board size

One issue the board might look at this year is its size.

I don’t think it makes sense for the 35-member board to change its size until after the 2010 census. But the census is coming up sooner than we think, and now’s a good time to start talking about the issue, especially because the La Crosse Common Council is also likely to be involved.

La Crosse County can’t realistically act alone because the 17 supervisors from the city of La Crosse share district boundaries with the La Crosse Common Council members, so the city would likely have to reduce its numbers at the same time, or voting would get very complicated. The 18 supervisors from suburban and rural areas don’t share boundaries with anyone else.

In the profile I wrote about former supervisor Jim Ehrsam last week, I didn’t have room to share his thoughts on the size of the board.

“They have to reduce the size of the board. They’re doing it all over the state,” said Ehrsam, who’s very attuned to what’s happening in other Wisconsin counties.

I was surprised to hear Ehrsam say this because he’s advocated for a larger board in the past.

Ehrsam called the county board “a great stepping stone” to higher office, citing current state Reps. Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, as examples of supervisors who have gone on to bigger and better things. By reducing the board size, there will be fewer opportunities for people to get involved, he said. However, “I don’t see any way out of it,” Ehrsam said.

When I surveyed candidates this year, I asked whether they supported cutting the size of the board in half. I asked that hoping to provoke a strong response, either for or against, and not because I necessarily favor such a reduction.

About a dozen returning and new board members who responded to the survey said they favor a significant reduction, though not necessarily by half. Seven were opposed or offered no opinion.

Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.