Adam Payne
Former Sheboygan County Administrator Adam Payne is stepping down from his position of Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Payne resigns from a job he’s held since being appointed last December by Governor Tony Evers.
Payne announced his intentions to step down on November first in a letter sent to Governor Evers last Friday in which he said that he wanted to spend more time with his aging parents, with his grandchildren and to support his wife as a caregiver.
Payne told WHBL News in a Tuesday afternoon interview that he was very grateful for his experience steering an agency that he called “a big ship”, but he told us that:
“After 10 months, certainly, got a stronger appreciation for the difference between county government and county operations versus state operations. It’s far more political and partisan at the state level, which was…isn’t a surprise to anyone, but definitely there’s some unique challenges there. But, first and foremost, after ten months I really started thinking more and more about what was most important to me, and without question that’s my family.”
We asked Payne if the highly-polarized atmosphere in Madison made his decision any easier. He said that: “…it is more challenging because of how partisan it is. It is a different environment, and I’m not gonna say that that was the tipping point for my decision, because I enjoyed the people I was working with at the agency; I enjoyed the many stakeholders, as I mentioned previously, that I got to know and interact with. But it is different, and I can certainly share, in all honesty, that at times it can be frustrating or disheartening when partisan politics gets in the way of making progress and helping people and communities in need.”
Payne said he had no doubt that the Agency will be in good hands once he leaves next Wednesday.
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