sarah smith
After growing up in rural western Wisconsin, Sarah moved to Dane County to attend UW-Madison and fell in love with the community. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History and went on to graduate with a Master’s in Educational Policy from UW-Madison as well. She has been active in volunteer organizations during her time in Dane County, including running a group of volunteers for the Quality Assurance division while she worked at Epic. Sarah has also organized with the Women’s March and served as State Chair for the Young Democrats of Wisconsin. She currently volunteers as a member of the City of Monona Sustainability Committee.
Sarah has previously served as Chief of Staff to State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and as Communication Director for former state Senator Patty Schachtner. She is now the Director of Public Affairs at the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance. Sarah has represented District 24 on the Dane County Board of Supervisors since April 2020.
In these monthly newsletters, I will share updates from the County Board and other information about the important issues facing our community!
New Term, New Committees
After our new term began at the end of April, Chair Patrick Miles announced new committee assignments for each Supervisor.
I will be serving on the following:
Last week, I met with UW Extension Director Carrie Edgar and toured their building to discuss their work and how our work as a committee can support them.
COVID in Dane County
Cases were high but stable from May 2-May 15 with an average of 376 cases per day. Public Health Madison & Dane County has reported that percent positive positivity is high though all the positive cases in the county may be tracked due to the increase in at-home testing.
While cases are still high in Dane County, you may want to consider wearing masks at crowded indoor gatherings. Learn more at publichealthmdc.com
Latest County Board Actions
At our May 19 County Board Meeting we considered and approved a resolution in support of abortion care. 2022 RES-024 was drafted by Supervisor Cecely Castillo with assistance from Youth Governance Program (YGP) participant Miranda Garcia-Dove. It declares our support for repealing Wis. Stat. 940.04 which bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy without exception for rape, incest, or the health of the patient.
The County Board has also approved the first step toward a new, modern landfill that will keep our county on the cutting edge of sustainability. I was proud to have sponsored 2021 RES-440 to approve the purchase of land for the new landfill and sustainability campus. Find the full timeline for this project and its next steps here.
At their May 26 meeting, the Health and Human Needs Committee created a subcommittee focused on the challenges facing Dane County’s health care and public health workforce after the community trauma of the past few years. The subcommittee is expected to have the first meeting by June 20, a public hearing by July 20, and recommendations to the HHM committee by August 11. Find out more about this subcommittee here.
Defending Health Care Access
On May 23, I published an open letter calling upon Wisconsin’s District Attorneys, Sheriffs, and Police Chiefs to pledge that they will not utilize the resources of their offices to investigate or prosecute individuals’ health care decisions including accessing abortion care. This open letter has been signed by over 60 local elected officials from over a dozen Wisconsin counties.
The recent U.S. Supreme Court leak indicates that the court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which have protected access to abortion for nearly 50 years. Overturning Roe could trigger Wis. Stat. § 940.04, a 173-year-old Wisconsin law criminalizing abortion.
All people who need abortions should be able to access them safely and on demand without threat of investigation, prosecution, or other harm. Consuming investigative and prosecutorial resources to enforce an abortion ban at the expense of other law enforcement efforts will not keep our communities any safer. Instead, it will inflict further harm on survivors of rape, human trafficking, and domestic violence.
In 2020, 6,336 abortions were provided for Wisconsin residents that lived in nearly every county of the state. The signers on this open letter include Mayors, County Board Supervisors, City Councilmembers, Village Trustees, and School Board Members from Calumet, Chippewa, Dane, Dunn, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Milwaukee, Pierce, Racine, Sheboygan, St. Croix, Superior, and Winnebago counties.
Right now, abortion is still legal in Wisconsin and providers like Planned Parenthood are open and providing services for their patients. People seeking an abortion can also access abortion pills online through organizations like AidAccess. Abortion funds like Women’s Medical Fund, Options Fund, Freedom Fund, and Midwest Action Coalition can also provide support to those in need of an abortion.
