Council Members Dealt a Curve Ball on Resale Shop Ordinance

Aldermen hit the brakes Tuesday night on what had looked like a routine approval of an ordinance change that would impose tougher reporting standards on resale shops in an effort to intercept stolen goods.

The Wauwatosa Police Department had asked for the change to a system requiring electronic collection of identification of those who sell goods to second-hand stores and better cataloging of the items the stores accept.

City staff drafted such a change based largely on a similar ordinance adopted a year ago in Greenfield that applied more stringent standards than required by state law. It was brought to the Community Development Committee on Tuesday.

But a number of committee members appeared dumbfounded when an audience member informed them that the Greenfield ordinance, passed unanimously last April, had been unanimously rescinded in October.

"I saw the memo three weeks ago that said Greenfield passed the ordinance," said an incredulous Ald. Bobby Pantuso. "I didn't know they had repealed it."

Joe Desch, the district manager of Half Price Books, which has its offices in Wauwatosa and several stores in the area including one in Greenfield, told the committee that the new ordinance there had been rescinded after business owners complained about the added expense of tracking goods.

"It was onerous," said Desch. "It cost my business $48,000."

City Attorney Alan Kesner responded that Wauwatosa's ordinance was not a carbon copy of the Greenfield one; it imposes no fees for reporting, as Greenfield had, and it exempts second-hand clothing.

Nevertheless, committee members were wary. Ald. Linda Nikcevich questioned the low dollar threshold for reporting: any item or collection of items worth $20 or more woud have to be logged for police.

"I'm going to ask that this item be placed on hold," Pantuso said, adding that in light of the problems with the Greenfield ordinance he wanted time to take a closer look at what went wrong there and how Wauwatosa's plan would better address those issues.

Committee chairwoman Jill Organ said she would vote with the clear majority to hold the measure, but she added, "If I'm the owner of a second-hand store, I'm going to catalog all the goods that come in anyway. And I don't see why we wouldn't want something that will make the jobs of Wauwatosa police easier."

"I don't begrude the police at all the tools for fighting crime," Desch said after the meeting, "but I don't think they've also fully taken into account the concerns of businesses."

Development Authority moves forward

An ordinance to create a new board to oversee economic development plans was approved unanimously and will move on to full Common Council.

The new city law would create the Community Development Authority (CDA), which would assume some of the functions of several existing boards and commissions, particularly those that provide for aid in financing proposed commercial projects.

The creation of the CDA came out of the city's Economic Development Advisory Committee and is based on a consultant's recommendation in a study commissioned two years ago to look at ways to streamline the development process in Wauwatosa.

As two weeks ago when the ordinance was introduced to the Common Council, the CDA is intended to be a "one-stop shop" for economic development.

Not all committee members felt they had been given a clear enough picture of how the new board would work to accomplish that goal.

When the ordinance was introduced to the Common Council two weeks ago, "we got four or five slides and an understanding that this was supposed to be a good thing," said Nikcevich.

"I'm not opposed, but I'm not getting a warm, fuzzy feeling about how this is going to help Wauwatosa. What's the great vision?"

Looking at before-and-after organizational charts of city government, Nikcevich said, "We're supposed to streamline this, but it looks to me like there are more steps."

Attorney Kesner explained that the purpose of the CDA was not to eliminate other boards or curtail their authority but only to move to one authority all the various financing mechanisms available to the city to help spur developers – which wouldn't necessarily be reflected in an organizational chart (see existing chart and explanation in photo gallery).

For instance, the CDA would be given authority over approval of tax incremental financing, which now resides with the Plan Commission, he said. But that body would still perform its other functions, including laying out of such TIF districts according to the city's master plan.

"This will be particularly valuable to the small-business person who doesn't have time to be running around to a lot of different authorities," said Bob Simi, the chairman of the Economic Development Advisory Committee. "This is the deal-making entity."