Rift emerges between new Waukesha mayor, aldermen in water talks

May 14, 2010

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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

May 14, 2010 0

Waukesha - Less than a month into his term as Waukesha's new mayor, Jeff Scrima is taking exception to aldermen who are embarking on their own public relations battle over the city's quest for Lake Michigan water.

Common Council President Paul Ybarra, Ald. Joan Francoeur and Ald. Rick Tortomasi are meeting with representatives of the City of Milwaukee on Wednesday while Scrima announced Friday that he would have the first of some upcoming meetings with three Milwaukee aldermen May 24.

Scrima said he asked Ybarra to wait and join in Scrima's meeting, but Ybarra declined.

"While Alderman are free to meet with whomever they want, the Mayor questions whether sending two delegations to Milwaukee is the best way to negotiate on behalf of the citizens of Waukesha, especially in light of the fact that the Milwaukee Council and Wisconsin Public Service Commission are currently seeking water rate increases of over 50% to outside suburbs," he wrote in a press release issued late Friday afternoon.

He invited any alderman to join him, City Administrator Lori Luther and Water Utility Manager Dan Duchniak at the May 24 meeting, as well as meetings he said would be scheduled with Racine and Oak Creek. Those communities are also possible sources of Lake Michigan water for Waukesha.

The meeting was prompted after Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines and seven other aldermen wrote to Scrima shortly after his election and the day after the Waukesha Common Council approved sending an application for Great Lakes water to the state Department of Natural Resources.

The letter asked Scrima to clarify statements he made during the mayoral campaign opposing aspects of a suburban water contract. In reply, Scrima responded on his first day in office that he would meet with Hines "to get to know each other and discuss the matter."

Among other things, Scrima had asked during the campaign that the Milwaukee Common Council revoke a resolution calling for an industry non-compete clause and an economic compensation payment.

"We, the citizens of Waukesha, don't want to pay for Milwaukee's financial problems," he said in a published opinion in the March 2 Waukesha Freeman.

In his press release Friday, Scrima said he has "made it clear that his job is to protect the well being of the citizens that he represents and will promote the best interests of this city. In doing so, he thinks it is vitally important to work as a team with Waukesha aldermen and maintain transparency."

Ybarra, reached late Friday evening, said the three Waukesha aldermen are having a "meet and greet," nothing more than a "peer to peer meeting" with Milwaukee aldermen Wednesday.

While the subject of water will likely come up, he sais Scrima's meeting would cover the subject in more depth.

Meanwhile, Ybarra may be heading up his own team. He is apparently taking a lead role in advocating for Waukesha's application for Lake Michigan water now that former Mayor Larry Nelson is no longer around to do so. Scrima defeated Nelson in his re-election bid in April.

In addition to leading the aldermen's meeting with Milwaukee council members, he issued a press release Thursday addressing questions raised about the impact of Waukesha returning treated water to Lake Michigan via Underwood Creek.

Ybarra said in the release that Waukesha's return of water would improve, not harm, the creek and would not add to flooding. Noting that the city's application for Great Lakes water and its appendices is about 2,000 pages long, he said the impacts of all alternatives have been extensively studied by experts.

Among other things, Waukesha would disinfect the water it uses from Lake Michigan before returning it, and studies show that it would reduce bacteria concentrations in Underwood Creek.

Ybarra's release was forwarded by Waukesha Water Utility consultant on the water supply issue, Bill McClenahan of Martin J. Schreiber & Associates Inc.Ybarra could not be reached for comment Friday.

The city's final application for Lake Michigan water is expected to be filed with the state Department of Natural Resources within days. The DNR will determine whether it has enough detail and analysis to be approvable under the Great Lakes Compact that governs diversions of water from the Great Lakes, said Eric Ebersberger, DNR water use section chief.

The DNR will also prepare and environmental impact statement and hold hearings on the application and the impact statement.

Ultimately, governors of eight states bordering the Great Lakes would have to approve Waukesha's request to use Lake Michigan for its water supply. If Waukesha's application is approved, the Common Council would then have to approve a negotiated contract for water with a supplier community like Milwaukee, Oak Creek or Racine.

If approved, it would be the first time under the compact that a city outside the Great Lakes basin - but in a county that straddles the basin's watershed dividing line as permitted in the compact - would obtain Great Lakes water.

Waukesha's water has high radium levels and is under a 2018 deadline to find a new supply of water that does not exceed federal limits.

About Laurel Walker

Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.