Mayor Mitch Reynolds on River Issues in La Crosse, and what's going on with the SMRT Act

The City of La Crosse lies on the Mississippi River on Wisconsin's "west coast", in the southwest part of the state.    On the river terrace between high limestone bluffs to the east and west, La Cross is a regional technology, medical, education, manufacturing and transportation hub.  It is also a college town, with three universities.  The city's population in 2020 was more than 52,000 people.  La Cross is the hub of an economic region with a population of about 140,000.  ​

As a river city, La Crosse's fortunes are tied to the fortunes of the Mississippi.  The City is impacted by climate change-related impacts including bigger and more intense storms that can overwhelm storm water systems, floods that cause backups into homes and other buildings, erosion that causes road damage and bluff slippage, saturation and weakening of levees, and possible waterfront damage*. These are thorny problems that impact people's lives and livelihoods, and are expensive and complicated to address.  

Watch the YouTube recording - Click Here!

On December 5 at 1pm, Mayor Mitch Reynolds spoke about how his city is working to mitigate these problems both as an individual city and as part of the Mississippi River City and Township Initiative (MRCTI).   He also provided an update about a bill now working through  Congress - the SMRT Act - that can help cities dealing with these problems.  

The SMRT Act is formally the "Andrew Young Saving our Mississippi River Together" Act.   At the LWV UMRR Annual Meeting, MRCTI's Brandt Thorington provided background and information on the SMRT Act.  You can see the video of Brandt's talk at this link, starting at the 24.34 point.  

And... here's a link to an article about how Illinois groups are urging development of a plan for navigation on the river during extreme low-flow conditions.  Mayor Reynolds refers to this work in his talk.  

Some info on Mayor Reynolds: 
Mitch Reynolds took office as mayor of the City of La Crosse in April of 2021. This is the first elected office he has held and he was actively engaged in taking on homelessness, developing a strategy for more affordable housing, working on the PFAS contamination issue on French Island and taking part in a forward thinking  public works project - building a new state of the art waste water treatment plant.

Prior to becoming mayor, Mitch was the Operations Manager for Madison-based Whole Trees, LLC and spent 16 years as a radio journalist in La Crosse at Midwest Family Broadcasting before that. He has also worked as an arborist, a bartender, a room service waiter, a crab fisherman, and a piano mover, among many other occupations.
Mitch originally hails from Michigan and spent many years in south Louisiana before moving to Wisconsin and settling in La Crosse in 1994 where he has lived since. He acquire a degree in History from UW-La Crosse and an MBA from Viterbo University.   Mitch is married with two adult children and a granddaughter who all live in the community.

Mitch is also a member of Mississippi River  Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI), a coalition of more than 100 municipalities along the river. It is an association of Mayors along the Mississippi River and its tributaries and businesses. Mitch will share some of the highlights of the association and bring us up-to-date with the progress of the Safeguarding the Mississippi River Together (SMRT) Act.

*Source: U of W Extension brochure: ​https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/climate/files/2014/03/La-Crosse-Climate-Change-brochure7-16-12.pdf

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