County Supervisors Defend Jobs Under Proposed Downsizing

With state legislators calling for a part-time Milwaukee County Board, supervisors made their case in front of their municipal counterparts on the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council Monday afternoon.

The Milwaukee County Board has not always seen eye-to-eye with the county's mayors and village presidents. But despite their past misgivings, supervisors were eager to meet with their municipal counterparts Monday and defend their jobs in light of a proposal by two state Republican lawmakers to reduce supervisors' pay from $50,000 to $15,000. The proposed legislation would ask all Milwaukee County residents about the downsizing through a binding referendum on the April 2 ballot. At the request of County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic, Supervisor Theo Lipscomb asked that he and three other supervisors appear before suburban officials and administrators at a Milwaukee County Intergovernmental Cooperation Council meeting Monday …

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GreenfieldParent

9:24 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013

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ICC Drops Pursuit of Milwaukee County Board Downsizing

Several members of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of Milwaukee wanted the board reduced and the positions switched to part-time.

The proposal to shrink the Milwaukee County Board is on hold, despite strong support of it by 12 suburban Milwaukee communities.  In April, suburban voters overwhelmingly supported reducing the size of the board from 18 members to nine, and making supervisors part-time rather than full-time positions. But on Monday, members of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of Milwaukee County voted to stop pursuing the downsizing of the board. "There’s some new leadership at the county," Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke said. "I think we want to get the politics behind us and give them the opportunity to work more cooperatively with us." "There’s this idea that now that Chairman (Lee) Holloway is gone, things could improve. Everyone’s willing …

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Heard in the Hall

Cooperation: An Award Winning Effort

Public Policy Form awards the North Shore communities with the Intergovernmental Cooperation Award for the combined efforts leading to the new North Shore Dispatch facility.

The Bayside Communications Center is now fully up and running. After 702 days of developing agreements, contracts, construction, networking, and so on, the Center is operational and serving all seven North Shore communities, as well as the North Shore Fire Department.  Things sure have come a long way; and within 10 years, we will experience a projected cost savings of $4 million among the seven north shore communities.   Recently, the Public Policy Forum informed the participants it would be presenting the eight entities, led by the Village of Bayside, with the Intergovernmental Cooperation Award for the efforts to consolidate the North Shore Dispatch.  The Village will be recognized next Tuesday by the Public Policy Forum at their 20th …

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Referendum on County Board Size to be on April 3 Ballots

Voters in many communities will be able to vote on a referendum asking if the board should be cut from 18 to nine members, and to make being a supervisor a part-time position.

Residents of about a dozen Milwaukee County municipalities will be able to vote April 3 on a referendum gathering input about downsizing the Milwaukee County Board.  A handful of Milwaukee County supervisors last year recommended an advisory referendum be held, asking to reduce the number of supervisors from 18 to nine and to make the position part-time rather than full-time. The referendum will pose two questions to the voting public: This isn't the first time these measures have been discussed. At one point there were 25 supervisors; then it was cut to 19. Soon, the board will have 18 supervisors.  Suburban communities wanted to be sure their voices were heard on the board reduction proposal, and many communities decided to put the …

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