La Crosse County Board approves education on digging wells, new contract for administrator Jane Klekamp

Property owners, who want to dig new private wells in La Crosse County, will get some advice from government officials before they drill.

The La Crosse County Board, at its monthly Thursday meeting, approved a resolution telling the health department to offer education on the process of drilling for fresh water.

The resolution approved on Thursday deals specifically with the Mount Simon aquifer on French Island, where a test well has already been drilled.

Earlier this week, local and state officials spoke about the need to provide a clean water source to the town of Campbell, where PFAS “forever chemicals” have been found in hundreds of wells in recent years. Families there have been provided with bottled water for over two and a half years, because they can’t use well water for drinking or most washing.

In other business, the La Crosse County administrator was granted a new two-year contract.

The board renewed the contract for Jane Klekamp, who became the administrator last January after the retirement of Steve O’Malley.

Although the contract vote was unanimous, some members of the board were concerned that the renewal vote was taken before Klekamp could have a yearly job evaluation.