The Viroqua Public Record: August 6, 2026
City Hall's big moves: a new City Administrator role and the opening of the 2027 budget process!
Your neighbor's guide to what's happening at City Hall — August 6, 2026
The Big Takeaway
Two things are moving at once at City Hall, and both shape the year ahead. First, the Common Council held a special meeting on Tuesday, August 4 whose main business was a closed-door discussion of an offer of employment for a City Administrator — the top non-elected staff job, currently vacant (budget documents list Nate Torres as "former City Administrator"). [4] Second, the city has opened its 2027 budget process to the public, with every department presenting its initial spending request in front of anyone who wants to watch — and taking public comment right afterward. [3] That second part matters most to your wallet: what departments ask for in August is the raw material for the property tax levy adopted this fall. If you've ever wondered where the money goes before the decisions are already made, this is the month to find out.
Money Watch
• Here's the honest answer on dollars: there aren't any yet, at least not in public. The budget presentation agenda names the departments and the order they'll go in, but attaches no figures to any of them. [3] The same is true of the Airport Commission's agenda item on a new weather computer and monitor — the purchase is listed for "discussion and possible action," with no price named. [2] Anyone quoting you a number today is guessing.
• What we do know is the shape of it. The Budget Team is Mayor Krista Browne, Finance Chair Todd Spaeth, and Alderperson Tanja Birke, and they've split the departments across two evenings. [3] Round one covers the Fire Department, the Library, and the Police Department. Round two covers Public Works, Administrative and Miscellaneous, and Parks and Recreation. Each department gets roughly 75 minutes, and public comment follows each one — so if you care about, say, the library's hours or how many streets get repaved, you can speak to that specific presentation rather than sitting through the whole night.
• One more financial item worth watching: the Joint Review Board will review a draft Amendment No. 2 to TID 7's project plan and district boundary. [1] A TID (tax incremental district) is a defined area where the growth in property tax value gets funneled back into improvements there for a set number of years, instead of flowing to the city, county, and school district right away. Amending the boundary changes which properties are in that arrangement. The board is only reviewing a draft — no vote to adopt is on this agenda, and members plan to discuss coming back to it on September 23. [1]
Coming Up
📍 Airport Terminal Building
💻 In person only — no online option listed
📄 Full agenda
📍 CITY HALL LOWER-LEVEL COMMUNITY ROOM
💻 In person only — no online option listed
📄 Full agenda
Meetings are open to the public — most have a public comment period near the top of the agenda. See the city's full meeting calendar for dates beyond the next two weeks.
The Quick Rundown
• Airport Commission has a full plate. [2] Randy Hytry is scheduled to discuss plans for an aircraft maintenance hangar — a working repair facility, not just a storage shed, which is the kind of thing that determines whether local pilots service planes here or fly elsewhere to do it.
• Mayor Browne is bringing the airport budget and a "2028 leadership transition" to that same commission. [2] The agenda doesn't spell out what the transition involves, but planning a handoff two years out is unusual enough to be worth listening for.
• Three ongoing airport projects get status updates: the AWOS (the automated weather station that feeds pilots real-time conditions), the airport master plan, and the runway lighting project. [2] The commission will also take up updating hangar leases — relevant to anyone who rents space out there.
• The Joint Review Board's membership is worth noting if you plan to weigh in on the TID: Krista Browne (chair), Chet Melcher, Chris Rozeske, Wade Hackbarth, and Charles Jacobson. [1] These boards include representatives from the other taxing bodies affected, which is why they exist separately from the Council.
• A reminder on how to read all this: the documents above are agendas — plans for meetings, some of which haven't happened yet. Where an item says "possible action," nothing has been decided.
One More Thing
Tucked into the Airport Commission agenda between the master plan and the lighting project is a small line item about replacing a weather computer and monitor. [2] It's easy to skim past, but that machine is part of the AWOS — the system that tells a pilot circling above Vernon County what the wind and visibility are doing on the ground at that exact moment. A desktop computer in a terminal building on the edge of town is quietly part of the national aviation weather network. Not bad for a city of 4,400.
Sources
[1] Joint Review Board Agenda, August 20, 2026 — View Document
[2] Airport Commission Agenda, August 12, 2026 — View Document
[3] FY2027 Budget Presentations Agenda — View Document
[4] Special Common Council Agenda, August 4, 2026 — View Document
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The Viroqua Public Record is an independent community summary of public meetings. It is not affiliated with the City of Viroqua.