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Residents urge Council to drop proposed water availability fees and consider hiring in-house engineer to cut consultant costs
Summary
During public comment, Dale Newberg opposed proposed water availability fees and Barry Brown said Bolton & Menk billed about $1.4 million over four years, urging the City to hire a staff engineer to save an estimated $230,000 a year.
Two Shorewood residents used the meeting's public-comment period to press the City on budget and fee decisions.
Dale Newberg read a written statement that had been emailed to the Council and told members he opposes the proposed water availability fees and their inclusion in the City's budget. Newberg said he has lived in Shorewood for 35 years and asked the Council to reconsider the fee proposal.
Resident Barry Brown told the Council he had reviewed four years of monthly financial records and concluded the City had been billed about one point four million dollars by Bolton & Menk for miscellaneous engineering services ("about an average of three hundred eighty two thousand dollars per year"). He recounted a conversation with City Engineer Budde about seven categories of miscellaneous engineering effort and argued that much of that work "could be accomplished by a qualified staff engineer and help from the City's Administrative Assistant," which he estimated could save taxpayers "about two hundred thirty thousand dollars per year." Brown urged the Council to evaluate hiring in-house engineering while retaining Bolton & Menk for complex projects.
City staff did not take action at the meeting on either the water-fee proposal or Brown's staffing suggestion; both comments were presented for Council consideration during the public-comment period.
