April 17, 2026
VIROQUA Wis. – The Vernon County Finance Committee took a major step toward revitalizing Sidie Hollow County Park during its April 16 meeting. The committee unanimously approved budget amendments to fully fund a feasibility study that will launch a capital campaign to dredge the lake.
The desire to dredge the 38 acre lake and potentially add a zero entrance swimming beach has been discussed by county officials for years. In 2022 the county applied for a $2 million dollar state grant but was rejected. However during that grant application process local businesses and residents pledged $80,000 dollars in just two weeks to help with the local match which proved to the county that there is strong community support for the project.
In March the Vernon County Conservation and Education Committee reviewed proposals from professional fundraising firms to finally get the project off the ground. County Conservationist David Hettenbach and Parks Administrator Marty Kennedy recommended hiring a professional firm because raising millions of dollars requires a full-time effort. The selected firm proposed starting with a $35,000 dollar feasibility study to determine if the community actually has the capacity to support a multimillion dollar campaign before moving forward with the full fundraising effort.
Fast forward to the April 16 Finance Committee meeting where Hettenbach presented a way to pay for that $35,000 dollar study. He explained that the county had already set aside $15,000 dollars of Ho-Chunk Nation grant money in 2024 for the capital campaign but needed to find the remaining $20,000 dollars. Hettenbach told the committee he found a portion of the money by saving on a recent purchase of high water warning cameras which came in well under budget thanks to a municipal discount.
“We only ended up needing to spend $8,726 dollars to get everything we needed for those installations,” said Hettenbach. “I put a motion to our committee (Conservation and Eduication Committee) to bring this to finance using the balance left over from the high water cameras to stack on top of that $15,000 dollars to put towards paying for the feasibility study.”
Hettenbach proposed the remaining gap would be closed using a second resolution to pull the final dollars from the Land and Water Department nonlapsing funds.
“This would be amending the land and water budget to use $12,226 dollars that would make up the funding gap between 2024 awarded Ho-Chunk money and the money that you guys just allotted to this,” said Hettenbach. “That would make up the $35,000 dollars.”
Supervisor Martha Olson asked about the timeline and when the public would see the fundraising campaign begin. Hettenbach explained that the initial planning is already underway and the county hopes to assemble a community committee by the end of May to spearhead the effort.
“We are identifying who would be on the committee from the community for this capital campaign,” said Hettenbach. “We are trying to identify those participants to then invite them to a meeting at the end of May, and then that would be the committee who was then going out and talking to people.”
Supervisor Will Beitlich asked for a reminder of the total amount of money the county is hoping to raise to complete the dredging. Hettenbach shared that inflation has driven the cost up significantly since their initial estimates a few years ago.
“We are talking to them about a number between $2 and $3 million dollars,” said Hettenbach. “When they originally quoted us what the prices for the dredging were it was $1.6 million and that was in 2023 and given that it will take us a little bit of time to raise this money it would be safe to assume it will probably be up to $2 million by the time we actually have the money.”
Finance Committee Chair Kay Stanek guided the committee through the voting process on both funding resolutions. The committee unanimously approved the transfer of the leftover camera funds and the use of the nonlapsing funds. The project will now continue into the professional feasibility phase to determine if the county can successfully raise the millions needed to restore the popular recreation area.
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