Today is your last day to register to vote on-line in Wisconsin. You may still register on-line at https://myvote.wi.gov until 11:59 PM today. If you miss that deadline and are not registered, you may still register to vote at the polls on election day. However you manage it, have a plan to vote, and be sure to follow it.

I spent Sunday afternoon wandering through beautiful Dunn County with the Fall in Line for Fair Maps tour. A group of people in support of Fair Maps went from Colfax (Kyle's Market) to Boyceville (The Grain Bin) to Menomonie (Menomonie Market Food Co-op) and ended up in Downsville (Scatterbrain Cafe). We all snacked our way through the tour and talked to people about gerrymandering, redistricting, and how fair maps could be drawn up for Wisconsin. 

In accordance with the guidelines from the Dunn County Health Department, in-person attendance for the public Board meeting will be limited to 25 people. It is anticipated that there will be 14 spaces available for members of the public. The meeting will also be live-streamed on this page and will go live shortly before 5:30 on Sept. 28.

Public Comments were taken on the items on tonight's agenda.

New Business - Approximately 7:11

A. Review of the 2021 Business Improvement District 2021 Operating Plan – discussion and possible motion approving

There was no discussion, it was approved by voice vote. 

B. Request to purchase equipment for the Community Services Building project - discussion and possible motion authorizing

Primary items in this meeting:

IV. ACTION AGENDA

A. Policy 171.2, Agenda Preparation and Dissemination - 30:00 

After a half-hour of discussion and an amendment, this was passed unanimously

B. Update to the SDMA Employee Handbook - 1:01 

This was an adjustment to accrual of leave for hourly employees that, in view of the pandemic, allows them to use their leave before it is accrued. It passed unanimously

Grants will enable Beloit, Wausau, Sheboygan, Madison, Eau Claire, Racine, Green Bay, and La Crosse to purchase a total of 34 public transit buses

Over the last four months, I was honored to participate in the Governor’s Task Force on Student Debt, established by Governor Tony Evers to address the student debt crisis impacting more than 700,000 Wisconsinites. The latest statistic from the Board of Governors shows the level of student debt owed has reached a mind-boggling $1.7 trillion; Wisconsin, alone, has more than $24 billion in student loan debt, according to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Today Governor Evers and Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes released an executive order calling the Wisconsin State Legislature into a Special Session on policing accountability and transparency convening at noon on Aug. 31, 2020. The announcement comes after Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot repeatedly in the back by a law enforcement officer in Kenosha.   Evers and Barnes addressed state citizens on this issue this afternoon in this video.