Hello! I’m Denise
My husband and I established our roots in the Poynette community in 2006 and became parents to the first of our three children in 2007. I grew up on a dairy farm in southern Minnesota and moved to Wisconsin to attend college at UW-Madison where I met my husband (a Pardeeville native). We got married and moved to Poynette before I had even finished graduate school.
Upon graduation, I worked for four years as the UW-Extension Agriculture Educator in Sauk County. I left that job in order to focus on raising our young children. In addition to our children, we now raise goats, chickens, and pigs on our small, but growing farm in Dekorra. (Our kids have added their own ducks and grow pumpkins for their roadside stand that you may have visited!) I also own and operate a health coaching business, specializing in women’s health.
I have had the pleasure of serving you on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors since April 2020. I have served on the following committees: Finance (vice chair), Executive (vice chair), Planning & Zoning (chair), Health & Human Services, Judiciary (chair), and Ag, Extension, Land & Water Conservation. My experience on the board combined with living my entire adult life and raising my family in our community as well as being a small business owner and farmer puts me in the perfect position to make sure your voices are heard at the county level.
Priorities for Next Term
Wise Land Use Planning
There is a potential application for an AI data center that may reach the county this next term. I am a relentless advocate for local input and control on major projects like this that stand to impact hundreds (or even thousands) of acres.
Should this proposal come to the county and leadership be interested in moving it forward, I will advocate for it to go to referendum so that everyone can have a chance to voice their opinion, rather than a handful of individuals, since it would stand to impact every resident in our county who drinks water and pays for their electricity!
Make Fiscally Responsible Decisions
I hear you loud and clear that you don’t want your taxes to go up, so I will continue to advocate for you when it comes to spending your hard earned tax dollars. It’s no secret that costs are going up, but that doesn’t mean that your tax bill automatically should too.
I will continue to read every single line of each budget, searching for efficiencies, asking tough questions, and working to prioritize spending within the existing budget rather than simply letting it grow out of control in order to fund every last pet project that someone wishes to chase after.
I have requested that we improve our budget process so that we can better gauge the return on investment of spending, and our Accounting Department is working on it now. I am hopeful that they will be able to roll that out during this next term as an added tool so that those of us who care can make sure that we are using your dollars where they are making the biggest difference to get you the services you want and need without a tax bill you can’t afford.
Secure Funding for Highway V
I have been working relentlessly to secure funding for this much needed highway work. Without federal or state cost sharing, this project would eat up about 1/3 of our county’s $30M tax levy, which simply isn’t feasible when roads still need to be plowed and other essential services need to be funded.
Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful with federal applications for the past two years, so I took the added step of writing a resolution for our Dekorra Town Board to pass last fall in support of the application to the state, which passed unanimously. I also wrote some talking points and put together a request for letters of support from residents that our Town Clerk sent out to her email list.
Our highway commissioner informed me that we are the first county in the state to take this added step in strengthening our application, so we have our fingers crossed that the “third time’s a charm,” and we will receive positive news on our application later this year.
If not, then we will move to “plan B,” but either way, I won’t stop working on this until that road is improved and repaved.
Work Hard for You
I greatly value engaging with each and every constituent who has reached out to me over these past six years and strive to do my best to help get your needs met.
I am known on the county board for thoroughly researching every item I will need to vote on so that I can truly understand each and every issue and make an informed decision. This will never change even though some consider it a waste of time and prefer that we all just go along with proposals with blind trust in the judgement and agenda of a select few.
My Achievements on County Board
Road Improvements
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County Hwy. J resurfacing was completed last summer after the glass lizard debacle got taken care of. While I know it was a major inconvenience for many while the road was torn up, it sure is a nice drive now, and valuable lessons were learned so that it won’t happen when the Hwy. V project gets underway.
For those of you who continue to ask for Hwy. V to be redone, I hear you, and I continue to make it a top priority!
To make a long story short, I have worked hard with our County Highway Commissioner and the Town of Dekorra to get the strongest application possible submitted to the state, and it is in their hands now. I want to extend a HUGE thank you to those who wrote letters of support for the application!
If you’d like the longer version of the story, feel free to reach out!
Expanded ATV/UTV Access
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Two years ago, many of you were frustrated that ATV/UTV access was limited near the Grade so that you couldn’t get across it, and those on the south side on Hwy. V couldn’t even get to it at all.
While the Traffic Safety Commission still hasn’t been willing to move forward with opening all county roads, the entirety of Hwy. V in Dekorra is now open, which allows easier access from south of the Grade up into the rest of the county and also allows those from north of the Grade to get across it. I know that more of you still want expanded access, so I won’t stop working for you until you’re satisfied!
Wise Land Use Planning
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Our state legislature has given state agencies nearly complete control in several areas that threaten to change our landscape like never before. I drafted two resolutions to ask our legislators and the Public Service Commission to give residents and local government more input and control over the land we call home. Both passed by a majority vote.
Fiscally Responsible
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During my time on the county board, Columbia County has gone from the 4th highest debt per capita county in the state down to the 12th highest county. While we’re headed in the right direction, there is a long way to go.
I voted to remove several “wants” vs needs from the budget again this term so that we would not deplete our savings account, ruin our credit score, and then be forced to exceed the levy limit with annual borrowing (which would increase your taxes an unknown amount).
I also voted against borrowing $4.4M after asking the question, “How much will this debt cost county residents including interest?” Nobody could give me an answer, so I couldn’t in good faith commit you to an unknown amount of debt payments for the next 10 years. Based on the first year of loan payments, it’s now safe to say that the interest will exceed $1.5M.
A wheel tax was also recently proposed that would have cost you $28 per vehicle per year beginning in 2026. I received a tremendous amount of feedback opposing this tax as funds are tight for so many of us now, and as with wheel taxes in other municipalities, the cost tends to go up fairly dramatically and quickly. I listened to you and voted against this proposal, which ultimately did not pass.
Protect Our Environment
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Dekorra is home to a beautiful mixture of agriculture and naturally scenic landscape with hills, trees, and of course Lake Wisconsin. It has always been my goal to protect not only our township but also the county’s land so that it will be here in good condition for generations to come.
Expanded Public Input
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I have never limited public input length at any meeting I have chaired. If people take the time out of their busy lives to come to a meeting, I feel that they deserve my time and attention while they share their comments.
I also feel that meetings held later in the day would allow more residents to attend meetings and participate with public comment if they wish. Thus far, the majority of the board has preferred daytime (and often morning) meetings.
Increased Transparency
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Several residents have asked how they can find out what is happening at the county. I have continued to push for increased transparency, which has resulted in more transparent agendas, more supporting documents being available online, and a more easily accessible calendar of meetings being placed on the county’s home page. I continue to advocate for meetings to be streamed online and held in the evenings so that more residents can attend, but unfortunately I’m in the minority thus far.
Support Public Safety
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It’s no secret that most employers across the state have struggled to keep their departments fully staffed. Our Sheriff’s department has been no exception. I have voted in favor of creative strategies to increase the hire and retention rates in our dispatch center, jail, and Sheriff Sworn Union so that we can all be confident that our 911 calls will be answered and our emergencies will be responded to.
Residency Requirements
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Many citizen member committee appointments are made by the county board each year, and I proposed a new rule that required them to live in our county, which passed unanimously. It just makes sense that if people are going to make decisions that affect all of us in our county, they need to live here.
I Represent You
Because this is a non-partisan position, and I represent and answer to you, the voters in Dekorra, I have opted not to accept any assistance, funding, or endorsements from any political party, lobbyist group, or organization – ever.
Instead, 100% of the donations to my campaign have come from friends, neighbors, and local residents.
Additionally, I have never arranged for or asked any other person or group to visit homes on my behalf. I believe that since I’m the one asking to represent you, it’s my responsibility to get to know you. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting many of you during my six years on the board, and if we haven’t crossed paths yet, I look forward to hopefully meeting you soon.
Contact Me
I want to hear from you! If you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
608-669-0210
Denise4CoBoard@gmail.com
Paid for by Denise Brusveen for County Board. Justin Brusveen, Treasurer.