Wauwatosa council debates committee structure ahead of downsizing; no votes expected

The Wauwatosa City Common Council on Feb. 14 discussed proposals to reorganize its standing committees as the council prepares to shrink from 16 to 12 members, but members did not take any votes and the mayor said no vote was expected.

Council members framed the discussion around whether the existing four-committee structure should remain, be consolidated into two or three committees, or be recalibrated by moving work among committees. Alder First presented an option that would reassign some alder liaison responsibilities and emphasize that committee service be “equally meaningful” for all council members. “Let’s have this be meaningful and let’s have it be equal balance of how we’re using our alders,” Alder First said.

The discussion matters because the council will have fewer members after the reduction, and that change…