At its meeting Thursday night, the La Crosse Common Council took action on a number of items, including appointing a new interim finance director for the city.
Brian Nowicki will serve as the interim director of finance for the city of La Crosse. Former director Valerie Fenske resigned at the end of last year.
Nowicki started in January and will serve in the role temporarily as the city continues its search for a permanent director.
“Brian comes to us with a vast array of experience,” La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds told the Finance & Personnel Committee last week. “We’re pleased that he is willing to help us through the transition period.”
Brian Nowicki, interim director of finance to the city of La Crosse
Previously, Nowicki was the chief financial officer for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. He has also been the controller for Madison Area Technical College.
“I became an early retiree and got sick of that pretty quickly and have taken on a few interim roles during the year. And I’m very happy that the mayor reached out for this opportunity,” Nowicki said last week.
People are also reading…
Additionally, the city council heard a presentation from the Parks, Recreation & Forestry Department Thursday that detailed programming for the city’s aging population, which has been expanding over the years.
Director Jay Odegaard told the council that the new senior center that opened in the former La Crosse Footwear building last year is a good “tentative” spot, but that something different will be needed down the road.
“St. Andrews Street is not the end-all and it’s not the perfect solution by any means,” he said. “It is the right fit for today.”
Mitch Reynolds, La Crosse mayor
He stated that the council will soon be asked to “make some tough decisions, especially when we’re dealing with aging facilities,” and noted how “drastically” programs and recreation continues to evolve, including for the aging community.
“I don’t think it’s such a bad thing that right now we’re in a position of having a tentative location that works for the time being, but also allows us the opportunity to expand down the road in another location that might be more of that long-term solution,” Odegaard said.
The common council went into closed session after the presentation to discuss the topic. They returned to open session about 45 minutes later. The item was informational only and not action or further discussion occurred.
Other items on the city council’s plate Thursday included approving the use of $200,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, for an additional study on the lead contamination in the marsh.
Parks director Jay Odegaard
The study, which has been requested by the state, will help stakeholders find a solution to the pollution, city officials have stated.
Deed restrictions for certain properties on the city’s North Side were also approved.
These restrictions will be offered to properties whose garages lie below the floodplain. Some properties will have the opportunity to take the deed restriction, which would limit future building permits and other construction, or bring the garage out of the floodplain.
Now that the deed restrictions have been approved by the council, notifications will be sent to those properties.
A consulting team was also adopted by the council to help lead the city in crafting its new comprehensive plan.
The last plan, titled “Confluence,” was created in 2002. The comprehensive plans serves as a vision for the city’s next 20 years.
The consulting firm GRAEF was chosen and approved to help city staff in drafting the next plan.
