by Jonathan Gramling

During her over 25 years of public service, Jamie Kuhn, the interim Dane County executive, has seen government from just about every angle — from overseeing a staff of 1,200 as the State of Wisconsin Medicaid Director for WI Dept. of Health Services to representing a relatively small Dane County supervisory district, not to speak of as a tax payer as she and her husband raised her family on Madison’s east side.

Over the years, Kuhn has quietly amassed a wealth of experiences that allows her to transition to the role of Dane County’s top executive. What also allows her to transition easily is her commitment to people and public service and a love for Dane County. And it doesn’t hurt that she grew up in the rural setting of River Falls near the Minnesota border and the city of Madison — or Milwaukee — for pretty much her entire adult life

And then there is that politics bug that bit her when she was a student at UW-Green Bay where she was studying sociology and environmental studies.

“I was engaged in student government and that is what really brought me down here,” Kuhn said. “I continued working for the state student association. And then one day, I ran into Tim Sullivan who said, ‘Where do you live? You should run for office.’ And I said, ‘Sure, why not? What do I have to lose? I care about what is going on in the community.’ And that is how it happened.’”

Kuhn ran in 1998 and won her Dane County Supervisor seat. She admits she was surprised by how few votes someone needed to win. But it reinforced her knowledge that it is all about the people you serve, no matter how many or how few, “I think what I learned from that experience, much like others, is if you work really, really hard and talk with people where they are at, they will trust in you as long as you are communicating with them,” Kuhn said.

“I think that leads over into everything. When you take the time to sit down with people, whether you agree with them or not, it’s not always the end goal. It’s about making connections. I think that is partially why I do enjoy county government. You are close to the services that are being provided and the people who are providing them. This is a growing community, but still a reasonable sized community where walking around and you are interfacing with all of that, it’s not so distant from you. You can have meaningful conversations and you can make meaningful change, small or big, by doing the work. That’s the reason why I do what I do. I care about the community, not just because I live here, but because I have always believed that my parents always taught me that if you want to do good, you have to be out there doing the work.”

Much of the work that Kuhn has done in government has been in service to constituencies, even as chief of staff to former Senator Mark Miller. And it is that dedication to service that led her to earn a master’s degree in social work from UW-Madison.

“When I was in the legislature, I was having conversations with constituents of the senator, trying to connect them to resources and services and even determining who was the right person to connect them to,” Kuhn reflected. “I realized that in order to do that, I thought it would be useful to get trained in how do we actually work with people and how do people think and how do we respect them while sometimes having to say no to people. How do we engage and empower people, which is really the key, being an ally and doing things to empower people. I think I’ve taken opportunities that have been in front of me. But it’s never been my mission for it to be anything about me. It really is about who we are serving in the community and how we are making changes that benefit people.”

Kuhn was fortunate to work for an understanding boss in Rep. Mark Miller who was willing to be flexible. And that probably paid off in Kuhn’s expertise in working with the community.

“I was very fortunate that Rep. Miller at the time was a huge believer — I think it goes back to when Midge was in the legislature — in supporting your staff through educational opportunities,” Kuhn said. “He was very supportive of me doing both. And at the time, it basically made it work. I did a lot of stuff on the weekends and did a lot of going back and forth. The university was rather generous with their flexibility with me because at the time, it was not necessarily a part-time program at the university. I didn’t do it all in one year like is normally the case. It took me a little bit longer.”

Kuhn served on the Dane County Board twice, from 1998-2000 and then again from 2018-2019 when she resigned to focus full-time as Governor Tony Evers’ director of External Relations to avoid any conflicts or sticky situations.

Over the years, Kuhn has quietly amassed a wealth of experience that allows her to transition to the role of Dane County’s top executive. Kuhn wasn’t looking for the position. The position kind of found her.

“I think as they were talking with different people and different people were suggesting names and I just got the call,” Kuhn recalled. “I was asked a lot of questions. I think once it seemed like a conversation that was moving forward, I had to make a decision. Again it’s hard to say no to doing work that is extremely meaningful and really does benefit the community. I am honored to be doing this job. I do deeply care about this community, so hopefully we can keep the train on track and do some good things as well.”

While Kuhn will only be in the job until after the November general election, it doesn’t mean that she will be filling a slot until the new county executive is elected. There is a whole lot of county government going on.

“In any administrative function with all of the departments that we have and the wide variety of things that we do, we’re having conversations and programs are moving forward based on past budgets and sometimes past, past budgets,” Kuhn said. “And implementation of programs is always happening. Not everything that passes immediately happens. And there is a lot of planning involved and some of those things are coming to fruition. Others are still more in development. There are always things going on that the departments are updating us on or there are decisions on how to move forward with some lens for what was intended and how do you actually implement that. People would be surprised in a good way on how much goes on in county government on a daily basis.”

And Kuhn’s prior terms as a county board supervisor has allowed her to hit the road running.

“I have been somewhat involved in every part of government,” Kuhn said. “It is really familiar. People have asked me what it is like to be the interim. Obviously it is a different position than when I was on the board. But it is really familiar. At human services, I am running into people that I worked with in my field placement. They might be in a new position now. But we already know how to work together. John Welch, for example, I was on public works when public works was included in his department. And so he is a familiar face and I know how he works and presents information. So when we see each other, it’s like no time has passed. It’s just that a lot of other things have happened since I’ve been here. It’s familiar, but obviously it is a completely different challenge. It’s not easy.”

And while things have changed in the intervening years, there are things that have remained the same.

“It was a much different world when I was on the county board originally,” Kuhn said about the 1990s. “I will say that there were a lot of really good people on that board. I still faced a lot of challenges being a woman of color, a yellow woman of color on the board at the time in a space where others weren’t expecting me to be so good. I certainly think that was a growing experience for me. It was kind of a testament to how no matter where you go as a person of color, not everyone is ready to receive you. It is always important for me to be always extremely cognizant of who do we need to be thinking about even if they are not right in front of us.”

One of the biggest tasks that Kuhn will have to shepherd through Dane County government is the 2025 county budget, which will be in the final stages of passage as the new county executive is elected.

“I think we’re hopeful that the numbers continue to stay steady,” Kuhn said. “I don’t know at this time that we are seeing the same situation that is caused by a number of different factors. Certainly, we have to be cautious. There is a lot of ARPA dollars that were infused into all of our systems. That is eventually going to be used up or go away. Certainly we are seeing different variations in our sales tax returns and we certainly have some major price tag issues that are coming up in this budget. We’re trying to be cautious. But we won’t know 100 percent, but I think the goal for this budget for everyone should be to ensure that we’re maintaining services at the quality that we can, but also recognize that we are heading into some unknown territory that could really impact us.”

One of the biggest challenges that Dane County is facing is the availability of affordable housing.

“I think one of the top issues that everyone is working on and has been before I came here is affordable housing,” Kuhn emphasized. “Again I think it is a partnership between the public and the private sector. Not only how do we ensure that there are funds available but also where and accessibility of affordable housing is. As the county does grow, I think that we all know that the housing market, just on the face of it, is not at the level that it needs to be for the influx. That in and of itself creates a challenge. And then add affordability onto that. I think that there have been so many partnerships that have been going on that they are at the point now where I think we can say we just want to make sure that we are maintaining those partnerships and helping to increase access. With the partnerships that we are in, we are making sure that we are going in the right direction, which I think is a challenge. Overall, we all know that there isn’t enough. So when you are starting out with not enough already and trying to get to a place where we don’t have to say that anymore is going to take time. But I do think that everyone is at the table and that is going to be something that I know the supervisors care deeply about. Hopefully we can work together to keep moving forward in that arena.”

Another important issue area is mental health.

“I think mental health is really in crisis,” Kuhn emphasized. “It’s something that we all can relate to how that has changed, particularly since the pandemic and how important it is for us to continue to focus on that. I am sure that you will see conversations about that as we move forward.”

Conservation is close to Kuhn’s heart from her days growing up in River Falls and her environment degree from UW-Green Bay.

“We need to take care of some of the things that we run, whether that is land and water and protecting a lot of our natural areas for everyone to enjoy in the parks,” Kuhn said. “Or even talking about properties that we have acquired in the past couple of years and how we’re going to pay to make sure that we maintain them. I think it all kind of comes together to one of the things that Dane County does well, which is really think about the whole person and how we’re all connected in so many ways. We provide a lot of space for that to happen and how do we make sure that we are able to keep up.”

As Dane County grows and becomes more diverse, it is important that Dane County resources are available to and accessible to all of the citizens of Dane County.

“We always have to be cognizant of equity because yes, it’s always likely Dane County for many is great and there are so many resources here,” Kuhn said. “It doesn’t always mean that they are accessible to everyone. And in everything that we do, I think the board even has it on their agenda. In everything that we do, we have to ask, ‘Is this accessible to a majority of the people? Are we thinking of those who might have access and what are we doing to make sure that we aren’t creating new barriers as a result of the work that we are doing.’”

More than likely, Dane County government will consume her time and attention over the next four months. And then it will be time to take a breather.

“I will celebrate Thanksgiving and the holidays with my family,” Kuhn said. “I also have an independent contracting/consulting business on public policy. It’s a little bit on pause because obviously I don’t want to create any problems. We’ll certainly have that to go back to and what comes my way is yet to be determined.”

Jamie Kuhn couldn’t be better prepared to fill the position of county executive on an interim basis. Dane County is in good hands.