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Residents and staff push for formal 'Friends of the Springs' to maintain Waukesha's historic springs
Summary
At a Landmarks Commission meeting, a resident described repeated flooding and structural problems at four city springs and urged the commission to secure steady funding; staff and commissioners discussed reviving an ad hoc committee or creating a nonprofit 'Friends of the Springs' to fundraise, organize volunteers and hold donations at the Waukesha County Community Foundation.
Lisa Salb, a Waukesha resident, told the Landmarks Commission she is worried the city’s historic springs lack routine maintenance and public funding, saying, “If we’re responsible, there should be some funding that should be available.”
That public comment, delivered during the commission’s public-comment period, focused on recurring problems at four springs the city is responsible for maintaining — Menisca, Acme, Silurian and Hobo — and on how the city has relied largely on volunteers and intermittent grants rather than a standing maintenance budget. Salb said Hobo Spring was “flooded up to the second step” and described pitting in recently redone tiles and growing cracks in concrete at another spring.
Charlie, a city staff member who presented the springs update, confirmed the city has no regular line-item budget for routine spring maintenance and described past one-off funding sources such as capital-infrastructure allocations and grants. Charlie said the springs historically were supported by an ad hoc Springs Committee and by donations held at the Waukesha County Community Foundation, and he outlined practical limits of grant funding: “We don’t have staff people that are going out and cleaning them or fixing maintenance issues. As far as I’ve been at the city, it’s always been volunteer labor and donations.”
Commissioners and staff discussed forming a revival of the ad hoc committee or establishing a separate nonprofit, “Friends of the Springs,” that could fundraise, hold donations and organize volunteers. Jeff, Redevelopment Authority staff, explained trade-offs of different arrangements, noting that funds held by a foundation do not trigger prevailing-wage or some public-bid requirements that apply to city-administered public works. He said a foundation approach can make donated dollars go farther while a nonprofit model would require officers and bookkeeping: “If you started up the Friends of Waukesha Springs, would they hold the money? … We just make the money, give it to them, and they do the rest.”
Discussion also covered accountability and operations: if volunteers form a nonprofit, that group would still typically have to file nonprofit paperwork and appoint officers; if the foundation holds the money, the foundation would account for funds and separate them for springs projects. Commissioners emphasized the need to avoid placing fundraising accounting duties on volunteers.
The commission agreed to continue the conversation and to try to identify volunteers or partners who could help get a new Friends group off the ground. Charlie and commissioners also discussed scheduling a spring visit to the springs so new commissioners can see conditions in person. The meeting closed with the commission asking staff and commissioners to follow up with more specifics on the feasibility and structure of a Friends organization.
