Updates on Homeless, police-crisis response unit, civilian review board with La Crosse County admin. Klekamp

La Crosse County administrator, Jane Klekamp, in the WIZM studio Tuesday for La Crosse Talk with an update on the homeless plan, how the co-response unit has done this year — pairing police and crisis responders — where the civilian review board is at and how county taxes compare to the rest of the state.

La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-8 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.

We started the show, though, talking quick about how the city is studying have an administrator — there’s a working group meeting at 11 a.m. Wednesday — and if Klekamp would or could have an opinion in the matter or be able to speak about her role to the city council.

The first big topic discussed, though, was the co-response unit, where we learned La Crosse County received nearly 19,000 crisis calls (784-HELP). The police-crisis response unit took 509 of those and diverted nearly 200 from having to go to the emergency room — saving potentially $170,000 within the community.

The second big topic, homelessness, comes about a year after the Pathways Home project came to be, which is the five-year plan to end homelessness in the city of La Crosse.

We talked about the biggest challenges to solving homelessness. Over the past year, though, 80 people have been housed, and we learned the pathways dashboard could become more detailed soon.

The last topic we hit on quick was the county’s standing in terms of individual taxes, as compared to the rest of the state. La Crosse has been No. 5. This upcoming year, though, it’s moving up a spot, with the per-capita tax levy nearly half what the state average is at.