Besides weakening Wisconsin's open records law, other last-minute items Republican legislators inserted into the proposed state budget on Thursday include allowing a seven-day work week and requiring municipalities with water and sewer utilities to service neighbors who need it.
Milwaukee County supervisors hope the public takes note of another addition. It would transfer more power to the county executive, including authority over county land along Milwaukee's downtown lakefront.
Supervisor Theo Lipscomb says the change would pretty much give the county executive unilateral authority.
“When you sum it all up, it’s best encapsulated by the statement that it would specify that the county executive’s actions shall prevail over the county board’s action, to the extent that the county executive’s action and the county board’s action conflict. Essentially what this means is, anytime he disagrees with other people, he would get his way. Fundamentally, that is undemocratic,” Lipscomb says.
The bill's language gives the Milwaukee County Executive sole authority over such duties as making procurements, signing contracts and transferring property. The plan also seems to strip the board of its control over downtown land, including O’Donnell Park and the transit center.
The motion reads: "authorize the county board to continue to exercise authority related to the acquisition of property with regard to land that is zoned as a park...other than land zoned as a park in the City of Milwaukee that is located within the area west of Lincoln Memorial Drive, south of East Mason Street, east of North Van Buren Street, and north of East Clybourn Avenue."
Private interests have wanted to buy and develop the land, but the board has insisted it belongs to the public, and the board has been working on a plan with the nearby Milwaukee Art Museum.
A legislative staffer read for the state budget committee how new land transfers would work in Milwaukee County.
"A three-person panel consisting of the county executive and his or her designee, the county comptroller or his or her designee, and then an individual that is a resident of the municipality where the property being transferred is located and has expertise in real estate, two of those three individuals would have to sign off on the transfer."
Sup. Lipscomb wonders whether legislative leaders also have the county’s park east land in mind because interests have been eyeing some of it for a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks.
“It’s unprecedented, so where did the idea come from, if it wasn’t part of an agreement around getting such deals done,” Lipscomb says.
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele was busy testifying about the arena proposal in Madison on Monday, but his office released a statement regarding the proposed governance changes in Milwaukee. The statement says, in part, that the county needs to modernize its operations, in order to use tax dollars more effectively and take the politics out of contracting.
A portion of the county executive's statement reads: "Modeled after the State procurement process, the new process will allow the County to utilize best practices based on national models. Modern procurement takes the politics out of contracting while encouraging competition among vendors and protecting the fiscal interests of the County. This will not only result in better quality service to citizens, but will also allow the County to become more fiscally sustainable."
The proposed change would be the latest to alter the way county government operates in Milwaukee. In recent years, the state has voted to change the Milwaukee County Board from full time to part time, making its primary responsibility to finalize the annual county budget.
