Good evening, Chairman Yuhas, Vice Chairman Gaschke, members of the County Board,
elected officials — Youth In Governance members and their families — and fellow citizens of
Kenosha County.
It’s my pleasure to deliver my second state of the county address as I begin my third year as your
County Executive. And it’s my honor to present it to this new County Board.
We had nine new faces join the board last month, and to all of you, I say WELCOME!
Supervisors Knezz, Gama, Kirby, Morrissey, Garcia, Brown, Gray, Brookhouse, and Meadows
— I know you all have valuable expertise and enthusiasm to add to the county, and I look
forward to working with all of you.
We also now have some familiar faces sitting in new places. Chairman Yuhas, I have enjoyed
meeting with you and Vice Chairman Gaschke over the last several weeks and discussing our
priorities for the county. I’m confident we’ll work well together.
(I’d add, Chairman Yuhas — you and I are the first all-female County Executive and County
Board leadership team. Another first for our county! And a shoutout to all of the ladies of the
County Board — Supervisors Belsky, Brown, Decker, Kirby and Knezz — it’s wonderful to see
more female faces on the board!)
We also saw nine people leave the board recently, and I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize
their service to the county — particularly Supervisors Rose and O’Day, who departed with a
combined 66 years of experience. Thank you to them for their many years of dedicated service.
While we’ve seen quite a few faces change on this board, we’ve also continued to see a
watershed change in the leadership of our community as a whole.
Sheriff Zoerner came into office not too many months after I did, along with a new Kenosha
Police Chief, and now a new Fire Chief.
We’ve had new leaders take the helm at some of our institutions of higher education — Dr. Raju
at Gateway and now Dr. Akey at UW-Parkside.
Nicole Ryf joined KABA as its president last summer, and she quickly became a friend of mine
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and the county’s.
And now, just a few weeks ago, we welcomed a new mayor, David Bogdala. We’ve already had
a chance to sit down several times — and we see each other out and about everywhere — and
I’m confident we will work well together, further strengthening the relationship between the city
and the county, and seeking out ways we can work together to benefit the entire community.
As I’ve often said, Kenosha County is one community — when the east end prospers, the west
end benefits, and vice versa.
Recently, we got together for our second budget vision session, and I thank the County Board for
this continued collaboration. Last year was the first time we gathered early — for the budget
vision meeting in the spring, and for the CIP preview in late summer — to share budget
challenges and gather supervisors’ input well before the budget lands on your desks in October.
Laying that early groundwork, together, we produced a 2024 budget that delivered on the needs
of the county and lowered property taxes. I’m looking forward to continuing this good work in
the 2025 budget process!
And I’m looking forward to working with Finance Committee Chairman Gentz — and many
others — to continue our success as a triple-A county, one of just seven counties in Wisconsin to
hold this top-tier bond rating.
The state of Kenosha County is strong — and it’s looking better all the time.
We have a lot of good stories to tell as a county, and many more to come.
With our Human Services Building project — shovels have been put in the ground, and it’s full
steam through 2025, with move-in in 2026. The project team came to the County Board a few
months ago with some cost information that was a jolt to many of you, but factors, scope, and
costs have changed since this project was planned out in 2019.
I appreciate the board’s support and partnership in moving this forward — the development is so
important to serving our community. This is a legacy project that will stand the test of time. And
as we all know, we can’t keep the band-aids holding the Job Center together forever.
While construction continues on the Human Services Building, the team working in Human
Services continues to do an outstanding job.
Director Jennifer Blasi has taken the reins of the Division of Veterans Services and has done a
terrific job of installing a new team in her office. I look forward to seeing them in action at our
2nd annual Veterans Appreciation Picnic later this month at the Kenosha County Veterans
Memorial Park. I hope many of you will be able to join us.
At Brookside, the census has grown tremendously, allowing more residents to receive quality
care in our 5-star facility.
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DCFS expanded the Comprehensive Community Services program to serve more children and
adults with mental health needs.
In Public Health, the Kenosha Overdose Response Initiative — KORI — recently celebrated its
first year of working to save lives in our community. KORI is a collaborative effort with the
Kenosha Fire Department and Oakwood Clinical Associates wherein a team of professionals go
out into the community to deliver Narcan and other resource information to overdose survivors.
Like our Human Services on the Go efforts, it’s a terrific example of taking services out into the
community, meeting people where they are instead of waiting for them to come to us. Kudos to
our new Public Health Director, Lori Plahmer, and her team for doing this lifesaving work.
In Behavioral Health, staff are developing a Suicide Prevention webpage to provide education,
awareness, and ways to access services.
In that same division, it’s now been nearly a year since the start of Kenosha County’s
groundbreaking relationship with Lake Behavioral Hospital — where we’re able to send Chapter
51 mental health patients just a few miles down the road to Waukegan, instead of three hours
north to Winnebago.
Before we even began this partnership, we knew there would be obvious benefits for patients and
their families. They’d be closer to home, closer to their family and community supports, during
times of great crisis.
We also knew there would be a cost savings for the county. Tonight, I’m pleased to report that
our first-quarter savings this year were more than $98,000. And based off that, we are projecting
$400,000 in savings for the year. Let’s have a round of applause for all the partners who came
together to make this a reality!
In IT, under the leadership of our new Chief Information Officer, Mike Bastianelli, we will
continue to work to ensure that the county’s cybersecurity is protected from the attacks that we
hear about far too often these days.
Mike is also part of the team working with our Broadband Advisory Committee to allocate
ARPA funds to improve access to high-speed internet in underserved areas. I thank committee
Chairman John Holloway for his leadership on this issue, and look forward to announcing the
next steps in the coming weeks.
In Public Works, we celebrated a great accomplishment a few weeks back. Two projects
received 2024 Project of the Year Awards from the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Public
Works Association: The Highway S expansion in Somers and the Highway EM resurfacing in
Twin Lakes.
As many of us remember, the Highway S expansion was the largest county trunk highway
project in Kenosha County history. It took the congested stretch of two-lane road from Highway
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31 to the interstate, and transformed it into a four-lane, divided highway that will stand the test of
time as a gateway into Somers and the City of Kenosha.
The Highway EM project wasn’t as big in scope, but it was also significant to the community it
serves. Conducted in a partnership with the Village of Twin Lakes — and thank you, Supervisor
Karow, for your work on behalf of the county and the village — it improved road quality,
pedestrian safety, and stormwater drainage.
Hats off to the team in Public Works that oversaw these award-winning projects!
I’d like to take just a moment to wish a fond farewell to our former Highway Director, Clement
Abongwa, who led these projects and many others. Clement departed last month for a new role
as Highway Commissioner in Dane County, significantly shortening his commute and taking his
skills to a larger arena. We miss him, but we wish him well.
I look forward to appointing Clement’s successor very soon. In the meantime, I’m excited about
an addition to our leadership team made last week, when Wyatt Moore accepted the position of
Parks Director. Wyatt did an outstanding job in his previous role as Grant Specialist and
Development Coordinator, and I’m excited to see where he will take our Parks system as the
director. Wyatt’s appointment will be coming to the board for confirmation next month, and I
encourage you to support it.
I’d also like to take a moment to give a positive update on a project that’s been in the works for
years. Some of you will recall that three years ago, the county received a generous matching
grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation, to support the restoration of the historic Ceremonial
Courtroom in our beautiful Courthouse. Tonight, I’m pleased to report that we are on the verge
of meeting the match… and that we will get there with some final support from the community.
When we hit the $1.35 million mark in funds raised, we will receive $675,000 from the Jeffris
Foundation. I look forward to continuing to work with the County Board make the courtroom
restoration a reality.
We have some big events coming to our region this summer — the RNC in Milwaukee, and the
DNC in Chicago. As the Gateway to Wisconsin, Kenosha County will see an impact from these
conventions. Delegates and other visitors will fill our hotels, and we’ll likely see some extra
traffic on our roads. The nation will be watching us… and we will shine.
Earlier, I noted that the state of the county is strong… and it’s looking better all the time. And
another thing is looking better. You might know what I’m talking about. My staff are calling it
the worst-kept secret in Kenosha County.
Tonight, I am proud to “unveil” a new logo for Kenosha County!
It’s been 42 years since Kenosha County last updated its look — and I think many of us agree it
was time to move our brand into the 21st century.
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What you see here tonight is the result of many months of collaboration, involving a workgroup
including county staff and some members of this board. Thank you to Supervisors Belsky and
Decker, and former Supervisors Rodriguez and Stock, for lending their expertise to this effort.
During the meetings that resulted in this design, Supervisor Belsky did an outstanding job
articulating the symbolism of our new logo, which you will see in the resolution to adopt this
logo as the county’s official seal.
This new logo was designed to embody the essence of Kenosha County — a mix of new and old,
honoring our past while looking toward the future. The logo features two prominent landmarks
on our east and west: The Southport Lighthouse and the Honor Plaza at the Kenosha County
Veterans Memorial Park.
The lighthouse, built in 1866, served as the original navigational beacon for sailors entering
Wisconsin, and continues to be a symbol of our maritime heritage. Including the lighthouse in
the logo is a fitting tribute to our past, and to our continuing role as a gateway to the state.
At the opposite end of our county, the Honor Plaza is part of a park that is dedicated to honoring
the brave men and women who have served in the armed forces. The flag berm depicted in the
logo is a powerful symbol of the county’s unwavering commitment to its veterans, and it serves
as a reminder of the sacrifices made by these individuals and their families.
The ribbon of green on the logo represents our Parks system as well as the rural areas of the
county. It symbolizes the county’s dedication to preserving our natural beauty and providing
recreational opportunities for residents and visitors.
The blue ribbons represent Lake Michigan and our inland lakes, which are so much a part of
Kenosha County’s identity.
The team that developed this logo sees it as a perfect reflection of our identity as a county — a
symbol that residents can be proud of, and that visitors can identify with. As we continue to grow
and evolve as a county, this logo will serve as a constant reminder of our unique character and
unwavering spirit.
The rollout of the new logo begins now — on our letterhead, our flagpoles, and our lapels. And it
will be a driving factor in a refresh of the county website that will begin soon. I look forward to
sharing that with you later this year.
The state of Kenosha County is strong. And our future is bright!
May God bless you, may God bless America, and may God bless Kenosha County. Thank you.