April 22, 2026
By TIM HUNDT
VIROQUA, Wis. – Viroqua entered a new era of municipal government Tuesday April 21 as newly elected Mayor Krista Browne took the oath of office during a special reorganization meeting of the Common Council. The session marked the official transition of power and set the administrative framework for the upcoming term.
Outgoing Mayor Justin Running opened the meeting to adjourn his final session sine die. Running used his final moments on the dais to express deep gratitude to the citizens and city staff for their support during his administration.
“Every single one of you has helped make me a better person in everything I do and it means so much to me,” said Running. “I owe you all just a tremendous amount.”
Following the swearing in ceremony Browne took control of the meeting and shared her vision for the future of the city. She thanked the community for their trust and acknowledged the heavy responsibility of public service.
“I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everybody who’s come before in this seat, but also in each of your seats and each of you and that the priority of this work, of service work is decisions that we’re leaving better than we found something,” said Browne. “And I’ve been observing this group in this room for a few years now, and I feel grateful and proud to join the team and to have been elected into this position by a community who cares a whole lot. And I think this is an exciting time. I’m sad that Nate is transitioning, and also very glad he’s not going very far, so we’ll keep working together.”
The council then moved into its organizational duties. Alderperson Steve Willis was unanimously elected as the new council president following a nomination from Alderperson Todd Kirking. The council also approved the Vernon Times as the official city newspaper and designated several financial institutions as depositories for city funds including Royal Bank, People State Bank, Citizens First Bank, Associated Bank, Westby Co Op Credit Union, Local Government Investment Fund, and Pershing Advisor Solutions.
The council spent significant time reviewing and amending the official council rules. The primary debate centered around the periods for public comment. The rules currently schedule one public comment period at the beginning of the meeting and one at the end. Browne asked the council if they wanted to adjust that format to allow for public input directly before action items are voted on.
Alderpersons Seth McClurg and Cyndy Hubbard argued that the current two periods work well for the public. Alderperson Tanja Birke pointed out that the council frequently alters the agenda on the fly to move public comment forward when a contentious issue arises, such as the recent Eckhart Park playground debates. City Administrator Nate Torres confirmed the council always has the power to adjust the agenda organically. The council ultimately agreed to keep the established rules while remaining flexible for future meetings.
Browne also reminded the council to use virtual meeting options sparingly. She stressed that prioritizing in person participation leads to better outcomes and engagement with the public. Willis agreed with the sentiment.
“I find as a member of the council being in person allows you to be more part of the conversation,” said Willis. “It is hard to sometimes follow the conversation via Zoom.”
Browne then issued her new municipal committee appointments. With former Alderperson Emma Hood stepping down, newly elected Alderperson Kyle Bartelt was appointed to fill her vacancies on several key committees. The updated leadership roster shifts some responsibilities from the last term.
The Finance and Personnel Committee is now chaired by Todd Spaeth and includes John Thompson, Todd Kirking, Cyndy Hubbard, and Tanja Birke.
The Public Works Committee is chaired by Cyndy Hubbard and includes Andrew Bergum, Kyle Bartelt, Tanja Birke, and Todd Kirking.
The Public Safety Committee is chaired by John Thompson and includes Seth McClurg, Andrew Bergum, Kyle Bartelt, and Steve Willis.
The Parks and Recreation Committee is chaired by Steve Willis and includes Todd Spaeth, Seth McClurg, Andrew Bergum, and Cyndy Hubbard.
Browne will have her hands full immediately as she takes the helm. Nate Torres is stepping down from his role as City Administrator after seven years to take the administrative coordinator position for Vernon County. The city must now launch an immediate search to fill the administrative void.
In a later phone interview Torres emphasized the effort to provide local employees with secure operational hubs as one of his greatest achievements.
“Making sure that our employees have safe spaces to work,” said Torres. “Let us not add to the risk for them by having unsafe spaces where they are around contaminated equipment or drugs or whatever it may be.”
“That was probably among the some of the things I am most proud of is just being able to help make that happen,” said Torres.
Beyond municipal buildings Torres aggressively utilized Tax Increment Financing districts to spur local economic development and expand the city tax base. He guided the financial structuring and expansion of TID 6 and TID 7 which became the primary engines for local projects. Under his leadership the city successfully developed the Viroqua Business Park and paved the way for the Hanson Farm development a massive expansion on the north side of the city designed to bring over 100 new housing units and multiple commercial lots to the community.
He also facilitated the public private partnerships that transformed the old county highway shop into the Main Street Apartments a 65 unit workforce housing development that includes a community daycare.
“The North Point building and the childcare center was a big win,” said Torres. “But we are working on still filling the Hanson farm.”
“I give so much of the credit in the world to the people I work with here,” said Torres. “We had two really strong mayors (Karen Mischel and Justin Running) who were both very supportive and had a good mindset about this stuff and they really just let me and the staff run with the goals that they set out for us.”
Torres admitted that making the decision to leave city administration for the Vernon County role was difficult due to the successful relationships and momentum built during his tenure.
“Things are going really well here and it is hard to walk away from something where it is going really really well,” said Torres. “But I think that the county position offers an opportunity to really grow off of that.”
“Once I got past the fact that it was not a I am walking away from Viroqua and what is actually happening is I am expanding my role in Viroqua, then it was sort of a no brainer,” said Torres.
When discussing the transition Torres explained that his daily responsibilities will change significantly due to the difference in organizational structure and available personnel between the city and the county. He noted that the city government forced him to handle many specialized tasks directly to fill gaps for working department heads.
“The biggest one is just a matter of scale,” said Torres. “As a city of roughly 40 full time employees I have to wear a lot of hats and do a lot of things directly myself.”
“The great thing about the county is I really can take on the true leadership role,” said Torres. “I will still obviously be supporting folks and filling gaps as I need to but it is less of me having to do everything directly myself.”
He highlighted that the county possesses specialized departments allowing him to delegate tasks that he previously had to manage alone at the city level.
“I have a finance director instead of having also act as the finance director,” said Torres. “I would have an economic development team that I can support and let them run with it instead of having to be the only economic development person in the city.”
“I think that is the biggest change I am probably looking forward to is just having a larger staff team to work with to accomplish larger goals,” said Torres.
Torres is slated to start with the county on June 23 and the city is in the process of beginning a search for his replacement.
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