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.
Good evening,
The blog is back! I’ve heard requests to restart this blog so I will be issuing monthly blog posts outlining the latest actions of the board, upcoming initiatives, and general updates. I hope this helps make the work of the County Board more transparent and accessible.
Thank you,
Sarah
Dane County Jail Consolidation Project
In late March, construction design documents for the Jail Consolidation Project were completed indicating that the project will cost $179,296,428 - $13 million more than is currently budgeted. Earlier this month, the Public Protection and Judiciary and Personnel and Finance Committees advanced two resolutions that would each close the funding gap, RES-287 and RES-013. Both resolutions would use $3.5 million previously borrowed but not used for the Jail Space Needs Study. RES-287 would have repurposed authority to borrow $10 million with operating notes from other projects. On Thursday night, the County Board opted to instead pass RES-013 to provide new authorization to borrow $10 million with general obligation bonds instead of operating notes because bonding has a longer repayment period typically used with capital projects like these.
RES-013 was able to pass because of the work of the Dane County Board Black Caucus who met with Sheriff Kalvin Barrett earlier in the week to find a path forward and ensure that policy reforms would be adopted to reduce incarceration rates before committing more funding to the project.
From this discussion, Sheriff Barrett publicly agreed to:
The sheriff also agreed to support RES-393 to remove federal-in-transit incarcerated people from our jail and keep more beds available for Dane County residents to stay in Dane County during their incarceration. The County Board passed this resolution on Thursday night.
I am hopeful that the compromise reached this week will result in less incarceration overall and a safer jail for those that are incarcerated in the county jail in the future.
Other Recent Highlights
Pandemic Food Study
The County Board and City of Madison commissioned a study that was just released exploring the food system gaps exacerbated by the pandemic and the interim solutions that were created in response to the crisis.
The study sought to address several key questions:
The study ultimately identified 10 county-level strategies to strengthen the resilience of our food system.
Food insecurity is a significant problem in our county, communities, and neighborhoods and this study will help the County do our part to address it.
Protect Pollinators
The Land & Water Resources Department has compiled information about how you can protect pollinators this spring.
Use the Wisconsin Online Pollinator Habitat Assessment to help you evaluate a site and identify actions you can take to support pollinator habitat. When pruning dead flower stalks in the spring, leave approximately 8-24” for future nesting habitat (Xerces Society). Plant native species that bloom in early spring are incredibly helpful for pollinators, as food sources can be scarce early in spring. Native plants and seeds can be purchased from local and regional plant nurseries that specialize in native plants, as well as the Wisconsin Arboretum and Plant Dane plant sales. Schools and community groups can apply to receive free native plants from Dane County.
Plus, if you help planning a native garden, you can sign up for a free, hands-on Planting for Pollinators workshop on June 21 where you can learn all about our pollinators, design a native garden to attract them, AND leave with plants to start your garden!