Counties not happy with UW-Extension rushing changes

County admin. calls job disrespectful

They seem to care more about bureaucracy than the needs of communities around Wisconsin. 

That’s how La Crosse County administrator Steve O’Malley reacts to leaders of the University of Wisconsin- Extension, who are pushing a consolidation plan that would group counties together in regional offices, instead of allowing each county to keep its own Extension program. 

Proposed changes there aren’t going over well with La Crosse County officials.

The county board is criticizing a plan to form regional extension offices, instead of letting each Wisconsin county operate its own service.

O’Malley says Extension chancellor Cathy Sandeen seems to be in a hurry to make the changes without much feedback:

“They released the report on Jan. 7 and wanted the comments with complete restructuring by the end of January, and she’s supposed to release her recommendations next week,” O’Malley said. “So there was almost no time to react.”

O’Malley calls the rush job disrespectful of the counties and its role in the Extension partnership. La Crosse would be one of five counties in a proposed region for this area.