Dane County ombuds reports rise in repeat visitors, plans May presentation to Personnel & Finance

Diana Pastrana, the Dane County ombuds, told the Ombuds Subcommittee on April 15 that the office has seen 28 office visits so far in 2025 — the same number as the county saw in unique visitors for all of last year — and that most visitors are now returning or coming with multiple participants.

That pace of activity, Pastrana told the subcommittee, has included five facilitations or mediations since the start of the year and one team training scheduled for later this month. Committee members discussed outreach options, the logistics of open office hours and how to protect employees’ anonymity when using ombuds services.

"You will notice a kind of interesting alignment. We have had 28 office visits this year, which is how many unique visitors we had last year total," Pastrana said, noting the office has had 20 unique visitors so far in 2025 and that several…