Committee approves changes to clarify wastewater treatment commission duties

The Public Works Committee voted to approve a draft revision to Chapter 2 of the municipal code that clarifies the duties and authorities of the wastewater treatment commission.

Alder Person Palmquist, who referred the item, told the committee she worked with the wastewater treatment commission to “outline exactly what they should be doing so that any member can join, read that, and understand where they're at, why they're there, and what they can work on, and what they need to do every year.” Attorney Schill said he reviewed Palmquist’s proposed language and made a few technical edits.

Attorney Schill told the committee that Wisconsin’s public construction competitive bidding law requires the governing body to award bids and that, as a result, “when you're talking about an award of bid that's subject to the public construction competitive bidding laws … that be something that would need to be approved by council.” He said the intent of the draft is to preserve the commission’s operational authority over most wastewater functions while reserving to the council certain actions—such as ordinance changes, rate changes, or awards that trigger competitive-bid rules.

Committee members sought clarifications to appointment language in section 21 A and B to make explicit how the public works committee chair participates and to note term language given annual reorganizations. Alder Pollock raised whether the village of Beerren would remain on the commission; Attorney Schill said the current agreement with Beerren provides for a Beerren member and that any change would be addressed in a future agreement.

A committee member moved to approve the draft with a minor edit to section 21 A2; a second was given and the motion passed (recorded in the transcript as “Ayes have it. 300”).