The Village of DeForest is a rapidly growing suburban community in Dane County, Wisconsin. It has experienced consistent and significant population growth, prompting the need for strategic planning to ensure public services can continue to meet community expectations. At the request of Village Administrator Bill Chang, our team developed a staffing plan that projects position-level personnel needs over the next ten years. The purpose of this plan is to provide the Village of DeForest with a proactive framework for aligning staffing with anticipated growth while maintaining service standards.
To inform our approach, we reviewed staffing plans and organizational structures from surrounding communities with comparable growth trajectories. The staffing plan for the Village of McFarland served as a primary reference due to its accessibility and similar demographic profile. The resulting tool is an Excel spreadsheet model that allows population growth rates to be adjusted, producing projected staffing needs across various departments. This report summarizes the assumptions, references, and recommendations behind the model, with the goal of supporting data-driven staffing decisions in DeForest over the coming decade.
Contact: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu