Politics & Government

MMSD Attorney Makes Her Case to Serve on Village Board

Write-in candidate Lauri Rollings said her knowledge of sewer systems could help the village adopt flooding solutions.

As the field of write-in candidates vying for two village trustee seats grows to four, Whitefish Bay Patch took a moment to learn more about the previous candidate to file, Lauri Rollings.

Rollings was the third of four candidates to file the necessary paperwork to run a write-in campaign for the two vacant trustee seats in the April 5 election. William Demet, a Marquette University student, and Andrew Martin, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor,  to do so.

A fourth candidate, Hugo Rojas, 4953 N. Elkhart Ave., filed his papers on Thursday and will be interviewed in a separate article.

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The top two write-in candidates in the April 5 election each will win a trustee seat, assuming they are legally qualified. A special election would be held in the event of a tie.

Rollings, a senior staff attorney for Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, said in an interview that she would bring a fresh voice, as well as a knowledge of sewer systems, to the Village Board.

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Rollings, 35, lives at 4949 N. Hollywood Ave. with her husband Joel, who is the head swimming and diving coach at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She said she was motivated to run after learning no other candidates had filed to run in the April election.

Although she is an attorney, she has a working knowledge of sewer systems through her work at MMSD, she said.  On Thursday, she gave a presentation to the State Bar on how sewer systems work and why large rainstorms cause problems.

“Through that work and the legal work I’ve done at MMSD, I’ve learned more than the average layperson about how sewer systems work and what policies and legal framework should be in place when moving forward with a solution,” she said.

Rollings said the village should conduct a thorough technical analysis of its infrastructure before the board makes any decisions about future solutions.

“I think it is important to stress there is not a silver bullet. It will take good communication and cooperation amongst government entities, as well as residents,” she said. “There are a lot of factors that contributed to this problem, so there will not be one simple one-size-fits-all solution. We need to understand more specifically what happened before we can really develop a sensible solution.”

Rollings said there may be conflicts of interest that arise as a trustee, given her career representing MMSD, but she said she would recuse herself from the discussion in such cases. She said another MMSD attorney serves on the Bayside Village Board, and he has never encountered any serious problems.

“I would handle it on a case-by-case basis, erring on the side of caution,” she said. “My interest here is to further the interest of Whitefish Bay, not to impose any kind of MMSD policy. I am really just interested in bringing my skills and background to help the village. In any case of any potential conflict between what the village wants to do and what MMSD advocates, I would not participate in the discussion.”

To raise awareness of her write-in campaign, Rollings said she has notified her friends, in addition to creating a Facebook page. She said she is also working to create a campaign website.

Voters will have to write in Rollings' name if they want to vote for her, as they would with Demet, Martin and Rojas. The four candidates are running to replace two seats left vacant by Trustee Thomas Fehring, who will not seek another term, and Julie Siegel, who is running unopposed for the village president seat currently held by Kathleen Pritchard. Pritchard will not seek another term after nine years of service.


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