The county board wants input on how large the county board should be – your thoughts?My thoughts: Supervisors should represent about 10,000 people. That is a good number to keep campaigns less than $10,000, provide good constituent support and know their districts really well and be able to attend district meetings in addition to the meetings they attend as supervisors.
DANE COUNTY PRESS RELEASE
DANE COUNTY BOARD WANTS TO HEAR FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ON BOARD SIZE
The Dane County Board of Supervisors is interested in hearing from the residents of Dane County on how many districts/supervisors it has.
While the 2020 Census is under way, the Executive Committee of the County Board has started discussions on the redistricting process that will follow the release of the census data in March/April 2021.
In order to determine the lines of each district in the redistricting process, the Board needs to either reaffirm or change the number of districts into which Dane County is divided—meaning how many supervisors are elected to the County Board.
“The people elected to the County Board represent the residents of Dane County. Hearing directly from them on how they would like to be represented is critical,” said County Board Chair Analiese Eicher (District 3).
The decision to keep the Board the same size, increase, or decrease it, is typically only done once in ten years per state statute. The number of supervisors/districts is limited based on the population of the County – Dane County is limited to a maximum of 47 supervisors/districts.
Today, Dane County has 37 districts and 37 supervisors. Each supervisor represents about 14,500 residents.
Dane County remains the fastest-growing county in the State of Wisconsin. If Dane County chooses to keep the same number (37) or a smaller number of supervisors, each supervisor will likely represent more than 14,500 residents. Even if Dane County chooses to create a larger county board, each supervisor might still represent more residents depending on population growth.
For the next several weeks the public is being asked to let the Dane County Board know how big or small they believe the County Board should be. There are several ways for Dane County residents to give feedback including:
- Complete a very brief survey available here: English, Español, Hmong
- Email the County Board at County_Board_Recipients@countyofdane.com
- Participate in a POLCO survey available here: https://polco.us/n/res/vote/dane-county-wi/public-survey-on-dane-county
The responses the Board receives between now and the beginning of this August will be compiled and shared with the County Board’s Executive Committee for consideration at its August 13, 2020 meeting.
For more information on Dane County’s redistricting process, please visit: https://www.danecountyplanning.com/Projects/Redistricting
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About the County Board of Supervisors:
The 37-member, nonpartisan Dane County Board of Supervisors represents the needs and welfare of all residents of Dane County, Wisconsin, and sets policy for Dane County operations in the areas of human needs, infrastructure, criminal justice, the environment and County finance. The County Board meets twice monthly at 7 p.m. Agendas are available at https://dane.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
