Dane County offices will be closed on Nov, 28th & 29th 2024
richelle andrae
Thank you for the opportunity to serve District 11, which includes most of Hill Farms, Shorewood Village, and the neighborhoods immediately east of Midvale Blvd. I’ve lived in Madison since 2013, and reside just west of Hilldale. I’ve experienced our community through the eyes of a student, a young professional working in non-profit, an academic, and a volunteer. During the day, I am an advocate for safety net clinics in Wisconsin, working with state policymakers and partners to ensure that all residents have access to quality health care, regardless of income or insurance status. I’ve previously worked on local public health evaluation projects, rural workforce development, and Medicaid policy. After serving an AmeriCorps service term in California, I returned to Wisconsin and worked directly with underserved teens in Madison high schools, helping them find and keep their first jobs.
On the County Board, I Chair the Public Protection & Judiciary Committee, which has oversight for the Dane County Sheriff's Office, District Attorney's Office, Emergency Management, 911 Call Center, Courts, Pre-Trial Services, Medical Examiner, and more. A few of my "success stories" on the Board include navigating the complex jail consolidation project, improving constituent outreach by encouraging implementation of a blog system for Supervisors, and budget amendments to embed crisis expertise in emergency response and improve the pay structure for staff attorneys to support the timely service of justice. I also serve on the Dane County Food Policy Council and Greater Madison MPO, which administers transportation-related funding and programs across the region.
When I’m not at work or engaged in Board activities, you can find me at the Odana dog park with my rescue pup, Roux. I studied Spanish at UW-Madison during my undergrad, and earned a Masters in Public Affairs from the La Follette School, focusing on health policy and administration. Please reach out at any time and I look forward to working with you.
Neighbors –
I hope that everyone is enjoying the glorious fall weather before things turn ugly! I visited a few County dog parks this weekend, and am thrilled to see so many folks out and about. Thanks, also, to those neighbors that joined me for a recent conversation with staff from the Land & Water Resources Department. They are doing such exciting work and it’s great to share their “wins” on reducing flooding, mitigating phosphorus, clearing sediment, managing lake levels, and more. A few updates in this email:
As always, please reach out if you’d like to connect on an issue or share ideas. And remember, Public Health Madison Dane County has COVID-19 boosters available! Find more info here: https://publichealthmdc.com/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine. Dane County is currently in “low” level of spread.
Thank you,
Richelle Andrae
Dane County Board Supervisor District 11
Andrae.richelle@countyofdane.com
Budget Process: Proposed Investments in the 2023 Budget
Each fall, the County Board approves an operating and capital budget for the next year. In 2022, the total budget is about $760 million, with social services comprising the biggest slice of the operating budget. The average household in Dane County paid $867.00 in county property taxes last year. Throughout this year’s deliberations, I want to prioritize continued COVID-19 recovery, ensuring that the service agencies we contract with can keep their staff and maintain a high level of service for everything from behavioral health treatment to housing navigation, further investments in justice reform, and climate change mitigation efforts.
We held a public hearing on the Executive’s proposed budget last week. It was very powerful to hear from several local non-profits, including staff and volunteers, calling for increased investment in combatting substance use disorders and the opioid epidemic. The County is receiving over $1 million in a national opioid settlement and will take an active role in increasing availability of Narcan, peer counseling services, improving availability of fentanyl test strips, and family supports. We also heard from frontline health care providers, who are calling for support to reduce burnout and provide resources for providers to process trauma.
A few other highlights from the Executive’s proposed budget which I’m excited about:
What happens next? Now that the Executive has proposed his budget, the County Board proposes amendments. We’ll vote on the whole package by mid-November. In collaboration with County Board Chair Miles, several colleagues from the Board’s Black Caucus, and other leaders on the Board, we have introduced a resolution to advance the ever-contentious Jail Consolidation Project. The budget amendment calls for a redesign, and commits the Board to pursuing this redesign and avoiding appropriating any additional funds until the design process is complete. According to this plan, we expect the project should be ready to go out to bid in late spring 2023, and I am confident it will have the support of the Board to move forward. We will greatly eliminate use of solitary confinement, add new space for medical and mental health services, and provide additional opportunities for programming. The old 1950’s era building will be closed, and conditions for residents, staff, volunteers, and families will drastically improve.
The proposal recognizes that several new, consequential programs and diversion initiatives were not recognized in initial jail population projections, and that the Board will need to lead in collaboration with partners in the Sheriff’s office, judiciary, non-profits, and state government in order to continue reducing our jail population while balancing public safety. For example, the county was recently awarded a four-year $600,000 grant to develop and implement a Community Court, an initiative that will have a long-term impact on incarceration. It builds from the success of our local existing diversion programs including the Restorative Court and Deferred Prosecution. Learn more about the Community Court model here and here.
Additional amendments I sponsored include an effort to identify housing alternatives for individuals currently in the jail who would be released on electronic monitoring if they had stable housing, an effort to transition LTE positions to include full benefits for legal support in the court system, and funds to implement a county-wide food security action plan.
A few budget resources:
General Election Nov. 8
It’s impossible to avoid these days so I hardly need to say it, but please make a plan to vote in the upcoming general election. Please visit https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/ to request your absentee ballot, preview your ballot, or check your polling location. Races on the ballot include:
The League of Women Voters of Dane County provides helpful non-partisan voting and candidate info: https://www.lwvdanecounty.org/ (see candidate answers). Please make a plan to vote today!
Need more? Dane County in the News (lots going on!):
