A Fond Farewell

Mayor Mitch Reynolds will step down as Mayor on April 15, 2025.

As I prepare to leave office, I have been reflecting on the journey we have made together as a community over the last four years. We have faced significant challenges and experienced exhilarating success.There have been major changes and incremental adjustments. We emerged from Covid and have continued our climb towards a more prosperous city and region while constantly focusing on the mission of providing the highest possible level of equitable services to all who live in La Crosse.

I am grateful for the expressions of support, encouragement, and goodwill from the wonderful people of La Crosse over these last four years. It has been the highest honor of my life to serve this community alongside a truly remarkable staff. 

Some of the transformation in these few years has been stunning. More than three decades ago, a former mayor dreamed up the possibility of creating extraordinary development opportunities on an industrial site close to the downtown and immediately adjacent to the Black River. In 2022, we broke ground where a massive heavy and dirty industrial site once existed.The River Point District is no longer a dream. It is a reality of people living in homes.When the project is complete, there will be hundreds of homes and commercial spaces there.

Almost as soon as I took office, another immense project got underway. The renovation of the city’s wastewater treatment facility is the largest public works project in the history of La Crosse. In a very different way, but very much like the River Point District, this project is transformational for the city and will contribute immensely to our resiliency for many years to come.

After many decades of neglect to fire and police buildings, we invested in modern facilities for emergency services. Two new fire stations have been completed in the last four years. The two other stations have seen significant renovations with more on the way. These improvements included creating gender equitable spaces for the very first time in the La Crosse fire department. The city’s police department also has been completely renovated and modernized, again with a focus on equal facilities for men and women. These investments are a testament to how this community values emergency responders and the extraordinary work they do.

There are so many other successes to celebrate: Redevelopment of shuttered big box stores, a new hospital in the center of the city, opening of Trane All Abilities Park, completion of the city’s first comprehensive plan in more than 20 years, rebuilds of South Avenue and La Crosse Street, the development of the 5^th Ward Residences, establishment of the police Community Resource Unit, removing floodplain designation from dozens of homes, finally getting the Wisconsin DOT to give up on building a highway through the marsh and neighborhoods, and much, much more. 

We continue to work through the challenges of revenue shortfalls and the impacts those shortfalls have on providing city services. We are impacted by increasingly severe weather events that stress city infrastructure and threaten homes and businesses. There are ongoing challenges related to homelessness and housing shortages and a lack of available childcare. But we are making progress in all these areas through initiatives that leverage current resources, identify new avenues for success, and provide innovative pathways towards the future. Our community is rising and we have established the systems to continue this progress towards a future of prosperity and sustainability.

I am grateful for the expressions of support, encouragement, and goodwill from the wonderful people of La Crosse over these last four years. It has been the highest honor of my life to serve this community alongside a truly remarkable staff. Thank you.