April 2012 Election: City Voters to Advise on Council Size

A nonscientific poll says most Wauwatosans want a smaller Common Council. Tuesday, a more scientific poll will take place via a nonbinding referendum on the spring election ballot.

The question being put to city voters: Should the Wauwatosa Common Council reduce the number of representatives on the Common Council?

The question has been debated among council members at least four times within the past decade. The most recent debate led to , a decision that came after the council first deadlocked on a motion not to put the issue on the spring ballot.  

Although council members may be divided on the issue, there is consensus that reducing the size of the council is not a fiscal issue. Slashing the council count from 16 to eight members, for example, would save about $35,500 a year.

“The whole issue of going smaller, to me, has nothing to do with the cost,” said Ald. Jeff Roznowski, one of two aldermen who represent about 6,000 people in the sixth district.

“The money side of it is not a factor,” Roznowski said. “The question is how do (voters) want to be represented.”

Roznowski favors reducing the council to as few as eight or to the suggested compromise of 12 put forward by Ald. Donald Birschel. He said the work of the council is akin to that of a board of directors, and fewer council members could elevate council debate to higher-level, strategic issues.

Ald. Bobby Pantuso, one of two aldermen representing the fifth district, opposes the idea of reducing the council. Although the council may have some operational “glitches” that could use tweaking, Pantuso said, “What we do now works. If it’s not broken, it doesn’t need to be fixed.”

Pantuso’s concern, he said, is that voters may view the issue too narrowly, interpreting a smaller council as smaller government.

“Less government is getting rid of needless laws and bureaucracy,” Pantuso said. “It is not getting rid of representation.”

Pantuso also said that eight people taking up the workload of 16 could discourage people from seeking election because it would demand more time for the same annual pay of $4,200 a year.

“I don’t do it for the money, (but) I don’t think people realize the amount of time we put into this,” Pantuso said. “We have a tough enough time finding quality people now.”

The city faces several major issues – ranging from a projected for 2013 to multi-million dollar capital projects to remedy the city’s neglected sewer system – that require residents be well represented in the coming months, Pantuso said.

“In time like these, when we are going to have to make tough economic choices, I think the people of Wauwatosa need to be more represented, not less represented,” Pantuso said.

Birschel echoed Pantuso, noting that most residents believe the city will save “a lot of money” when he believes they will lose adequate representation.

The city’s two mayoral candidates, Ald. Peter Donegan and Kathy Ehley, said the issue comes up often enough to merit additional discussion.  

Donegan said he does not strongly favor or oppose reducing the council size, although he said there are council processes that could be improved regardless of the council size. As example, he said, the current structure encourages micromanagement of some issues that can best be handled by professionals on city staff.

Ehley was of a smilar mind, saying that the council should look at the issue as a way to get at “what is most efficient. It needs to be strategic ... and it needs to be right for Wauwatosa.”

If recent unscientific polls are any gauge, city voters likely will vote to cut the council size.

And if the council acts on voter advice to shrink the council, Roznowski said, “we need to take time to discuss it right” to determine how to do manage the council’s business with fewer members.