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Door County delegates bringing regional concerns to capital

Residents of Door and Kewaunee counties will travel to Madison on April 15-16 to participate in Legislative Days, the biggest stage to bring local issues to a statewide agenda. During the course of two days, residents, business owners and elected officials educate state officials and lobby for the issues pressing the counties.

“It’s a way for our community to step up and help educate the state legislators on what they can do to help us,” said Bill Chaudoir of the Door County Economic Development Corporation. “We put it out there as a nice way for our community to get engaged and improve quality of life in Door County.”

Chaudoir helps coordinate travel for all those interested, as well as setting up meetings with state agencies, legislators and other delegates while in Madison.

This year’s agenda items will include groundwater contamination, funding for public schools and involving the arts in economic development. In the past, legislative days have aided in funds for tourism marketing, education reform and reconstruction for Sturgeon Bay’s downtown area.

“We’ve always averaged 80-100 people that go down every other year since we started in 2003,” said Chaudoir, who expects similar numbers this year. The majority of attendees are county and municipality supervisors interested in bringing their individual concerns to light.

Bill Schuster of the Soil and Water Conservation Department expressed interest in promoting groundwater protection with respect to Door County’s unique geographical landscape.

“When you’re in the Golden Sands area or you’re in the southwest corner of the Driftless area, they have totally different resource demands and limitations,” said Schuster. “They are real problems but they’re not the same problems that Door County deals with.”

Legislative days allows the county to present its individual case to the state level in hopes of promoting legislation that will apply to the unique needs of the area.

“It’s very impressive when you get in the cap and we’re all wearing the same clothing,” said Chaudoir, explaining the matching black polo shirts provided to all who register for the event. “It’s kind of impressive when you have Door and Kewaunee counties marching around in unison. It’s a pretty effective way to quickly get a honed message to our legislators.”

The group from Door and Kewaunee counties will travel to Madison the morning of April 15 and meet with state agencies, legislators, and perhaps Governor Scott Walker, who is invited to breakfast the following day.

More information on Legislative Days can be found at dklegislativedays.com.