Longtime municipal leader Henschel is sole contender in Waukesha
Waukesha - Former Elm Grove and Whitefish Bay village manager Edmund Henschel is the only contender under consideration as the next Waukesha city administrator and a job offer could be in the works, Mayor Jeff Scrima said Tuesday.
The city selection committee interviewed him last week before he headed out of state for the rest of the month. Then, after the committee reviewed additional semifinalists' applications with a consultant, the committee decided to pursue Henschel without interviewing anyone else, Scrima said.
He said a job offer "may be in process" by the city's human relations department and the search firm. An announcement could be made in early September after Henschel returns, Scrima said.
Henschel, a Waukesha resident, has 27 years of municipal management experience in Elm Grove, Whitefish Bay and Clio, Mich., and 12 years of municipal consulting experience, according to his application. He is executive director of the Wisconsin City/County Management Association.
Scrima said Henschel's experience in negotiating a settlement to the 1980s "sewer wars" between the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and nine outlying suburbs called FLOW, for Fair Liquidation of Waste, would be particularly relevant to Waukesha "if he ends up joining our team."
Waukesha is negotiating with Oak Creek and Racine - Milwaukee has balked at talks - to find a supplier of Lake Michigan water. The project, prompted by a court-ordered mid-2018 deadline for eliminating radium from its drinking water, would be the largest public works project undertaken by the city.
During the nine-year sewer wars, MMSD wanted to charge suburban customers for facility construction costs based on property values while the suburbs demanded to pay based on actual use.
Consolidated services
Henschel's résumé also cites among his village management accomplishments a record of consolidation of municipal services. He said he created one of the first consolidated police departments in Michigan involving Clio and a neighboring town; created a municipal computer consortium involving 10 municipalities to reduce hardware and software costs; and was involved in the creation of the North Shore Fire Department consolidation involving seven municipalities.
As a consultant, he said, he developed staffing and funding options for a number of municipal consolidations, including Waukesha County and Ozaukee County dispatch services. He has done operational analysis of a number of municipal departments, including several in Waukesha County.
Waukesha recently considered disbanding its police and fire dispatch services in favor of joining the Waukesha County consolidated dispatch services - a move fiercely opposed by the police chief. In rejecting the move this year, the Common Council said it would not entirely rule out the move down the road.
"My strengths are leadership, organizational structure and collaboration in municipal management," Henschel wrote in his application. "I would like to offer my many years of experience to the City of Waukesha on a long-term basis as its next city administrator."
Former city administrator Lori Curtis Luther left in August 2011 for a job in Illinois as Peoria County administrator. Community Development Director Steve Crandell has been acting administrator while the search continues.
