Supervisor Taylor Reacts to Milwaukee County Governance Reform Bill

Milwaukee – Following the introduction of LRB 1340/2 in the State Legislature, a bill that aims at reforming Milwaukee County government, Supervisor Taylor issued the following statement:

“After nearly a month and a half of hearing about the bill that would reform Milwaukee County, I finally saw it for the first time on Friday.

“I would like to remind those who questioned the timing of my reaction to county board reform that creating good public policy requires thorough analysis and in-depth examination of any legislative proposal. With the bill finally introduced in the State Legislature last Friday, we may now begin the review and analysis.

“Having reviewed the bill, I have to agree with the main sponsor, Rep. Sanfelippo, that the bill is not perfect and, while there are many items I like in the bill, there are a few I do not.

“I support having the voters decide whether they want a full-time or part-time board because this is true democracy in action.

“Clearly defining the lines of authority between the County Board and the Executive is long overdue, dating back to the creation of the Executive position in 1960. I believe that the majority of these changes will make the County run more efficiently. I have some concerns that this bill places too much power in the Executive branch, and I am hopeful that can be worked out before it is adopted because having checks and balances is crucial to good government.

“I also approve of the steps the bill takes to streamline the role of county government and make it more relevant by deleting some of the obsolete statutory references and outdated functions of the County Board.

“The creation of a new intergovernmental cooperation agreement requires an additional approval of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Council of Milwaukee County before any agreement becomes binding. This is important to protect suburban communities, like the ones I represent, from an agreement that is not in their best interest.

“It is clear that the proposed reform bill does not address the size of the Milwaukee County Board. Despite this being the case, I still intend to pursue my plan to downsize the Board from 18 to 13 members, as I believe that this is in the best interest of 9th District constituents I represent and of all Milwaukee County residents.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

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