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 affects how many alderpersons can serve on each standing committee and on citizen commissions. City Administrator Steve summarized a staff survey of other municipalities, noting that “it was 14 different municipalities… every one of them is different,” and urging the council to focus on what would work locally.

Most council members said they prefer to keep the existing four-committee structure rather than move immediately to two or three committees. Alder Moldenhauer said the four-committee model preserves simplicity and equal representation and cautioned against creating an overly complex assignment process. “I kind of came away from that… it was a little off putting,” Moldenhauer said of the comparative materials staff provided, adding he favored keeping the system straightforward.

Alder Arnie and Alder McClough both suggested hybrid approaches. Arnie said he liked elements of a two-committee idea but favored allowing members a voting committee and a nonvoting committee assignment to spread workload, and McClough recommended ensuring greater alder oversight for the Board of Public Works and possibly moving some board responsibilities among committees.

Several speakers — including Alder Lowe, Alder Meindl and Alder Phillips — raised logistical concerns about smaller committees and quorums. Alder Lowe said she was a “hard no” on options that would put only four alders on a committee because missed meetings could prevent a quorum. Alder Phillips argued the current council should make recommendations for the incoming, smaller council rather than leave the new body to start from scratch.

Members and the mayor also discussed the role of citizen commissions and liaisons. The mayor noted statutory and historical limits on voting in some liaison roles and gave the example that the library board liaison cannot vote under state statute. Council members agreed that a wholesale revamp of citizen commissions should be a separate discussion and not part of the immediate committee-structure decision connected to council downsizing.

On next steps, staff were asked to return with more concrete information about shifting specific subject matter among standing committees — for example, whether licensing work could move from Government Affairs to Community Affairs — and with counts showing how often different committees and commissions meet. The council scheduled further discussion on community affairs and committee assignments at a future meeting.

No formal motions or votes were taken at this meeting.