La Crosse Council approves district maps, despite complaints about process

More complaints about new election maps, this time from La Crosse city council members.

New district lines within the city were passed by the council Thursday night, despite protests about the short amount of time they had to draw the maps.

The redistricting was approved 8-5 but city clerk Nikki Elsen said the “no” votes weren’t going to bring changes.

“We’re really beyond being able to change anything right now,” Elsen said, “and again, I really need to stress that this was adopted last month.”

Elsen added that the state needs local maps now, because candidates for the April election can start gathering signatures on Dec. 1. Just one city office in La Crosse is on the spring ballot, and that’s municipal judge.

Newly elected council member Mark Neumann finds himself moved into a different district under the new map.

“I was just elected after campaigning, and during that campaign, I felt that I was creating a contract with the people I was visiting door-to-door to serve them as best I could,” Neumann said.

In other business, the council officially put off action for another month on rezoning for the Bethany Lutheran nursing home on 7th Street. Bethany wants to build another four-story building, while neighbors want limits placed on how tall buildings can be if a rezoning happens.