Public Works Committee approves multiple street, sidewalk and traffic-calming projects; confirms sewage-district appointees and accepts MMSD grant

The Milwaukee Public Works Committee approved a package of street, sidewalk and traffic-calming projects and confirmed four mayoral appointees to the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewerage District (MMSD) during a meeting that also included a vote to terminate an intergovernmental recycling agreement with Waukesha County and acceptance of an MMSD grant for permeable pavers.

The committee, chaired at the start of the meeting by the committee chair (recorded in the transcript as chairwoman Mielele a Cogz), approved assessments and construction for a variety of public-improvement projects and a slate of traffic-calming speed-hump installations after hearing resident testimony on several blocks. Committee staff and aldermen emphasized public-safety goals and neighborhood petitions as the drivers of the speed-hump program.

Why it matters: the actions set construction and assessment authorizations that will determine which sidewalks and alleys are rebuilt, where speed humps will be installed and how costs will be billed to adjacent property owners. The meeting also moved forward city fiscal and intergovernmental decisions that affect waste processing and stormwater-management pilot projects.

What the committee approved and discussed

- Appointments to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District: The committee confirmed Mayor Johnson's appointees Joanna Bouch (file 250188), Alderman Milleli Cox (file 250190), Jose Ramirez (file 250191) and the reappointment of Representative Caitlin Haywood (file 250192). The confirmations were moved on the record by an alderman and approved without recorded objections. The confirmation of Alderman Cox was recorded with an abstention by Cox.

- File 250142: Resolution approving the levying of assessments and construction of accessible public-improvement projects at various locations. The file encompassed multiple individual sidewalk, alley and traffic-calming projects across aldermanic districts. The committee: - Removed (deleted) one alley reconstruction project in the First Aldermanic District after the alderwoman for that district opposed the project. - Approved multiple speed-hump installations and alley/road reconstructions across the Second, Third, Fifth and Fifteenth Aldermanic Districts after public testimony and reports of postcard-survey support and petition signatures; most motions were approved without objection. - Held one speed-hump item (North 80 Eighth Street between West Concordia Avenue and West Townsend Street, Fifth District) for additional outreach because the initial postcard response rate was small. - Approved other reconstruction and sidewalk projects in the Third and Fifteenth Aldermanic Districts; in one instance a petitioner asked for the work to be constructed during the current construction season for safety reasons, and DPW staff confirmed construction scheduling would occur if the project was authorized.

- File 250143 and file 250144 (design/engineering): The committee approved authorizations to begin engineering/design work for various accessible and non-accessible projects with estimated engineering and total project budgets noted in the files (file 250143 estimated city engineering $85,000, total estimated $900,000; file 250144 city engineering $15,000, total $525,000). Motions carried without recorded objection.

- File 250145 and file 250146 (construction funding and area-wide sidewalk contracts): The committee approved construction funding setups for a set of non-accessible public improvements and for the 2025 area-wide and scattered-site sidewalk replacement contracts (construction-cost estimates were included in the files and discussed during the hearing). Committee members asked DPW staff to clarify how scattered-site requests are assessed and prioritized; DPW reported that scattered-site replacements are owner-initiated, inspected by staff, and currently there is a multi-year list (about 1,500 requests with roughly 300 addressed per year under current contracts).

- File 250118: The committee authorized a driveway approach wider than 30 feet (Frank Productions development; Vacated Fifth Street) to accommodate bus/van parking for the development; the item was approved.

- Project fund transfers for bridge rehabilitation (file 250133 and file 250134): The committee approved additional city cost participation for design work on the Ninth Place Bridge and the Holton Road (Holly Road) bridge over State Street. The files increased the city share of design funding; motions carried without objection.

- File 250139: The committee approved terminating the intergovernmental cooperation agreement with Waukesha County related to a regional recycling system. Rick Myers, Sanitation Services Manager, explained that a 2023 fire at the shared processing site altered the economics and insurance costs for rebuilding; subsequent study and a separate Waukesha procurement led both parties to move to end the joint-arrangement file. The motion to terminate the agreement was approved without recorded objection.

- File 250141: The committee accepted a green-solutions grant from MMSD to install permeable pavers in parking lanes on West Cherry Street (between North 30 Second Street and North 30 Fifth Street) as part of a street-reconstruction project; DPW staff said this will be a permanent paver installation. Motion carried without objection.

- File 250211 (ordinance amending four airspace…