Politics & Government

Trustee Candidates Enjoy Healthy Exchange at Forum

About 30 people came to Wednesday night's forum to hear the write-in candidates weigh in on everything from budget cuts to sewer fixes.

There were no radical proposals presented at Wednesday night's village trustee candidate forum, but the backgrounds, skills and personalities of each of the four write-in candidates shown through in the live forum.

The forum, which was sponsored by Whitefish Bay Patch, took place at the Whitefish Bay Women's Club.

At 19 years old, William Demet grew up in the Whitefish Bay school system and is now in his first year of college at Marquette University, where he is in sophomore standing. As a political science major, government, debate and listening to others is close to his heart, he said.

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“The engineers will be doing the work fixing our sewers, but whoever you choose to be village trustee must be someone who will listen to your problems and find solutions with humility and accountability,” he said.

Andrew Martin, an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said he oversaw an equivalent of a “small village” as the chair of university’s English Department. Earlier in his life, he was a warehouse manager and the manager of a delicatessen in London.

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“I tend to take a pragmatic approach to most problems,” he said. “I want to know what the issues are. I want to know where the opinions are. I want to talk to the experts, and I want to know what would be the various outcomes in terms of costs compared to what we’re going to get out of spending that money.”

Brenda Szumski is employed as a manager of network partnerships for MST Services, which aims to help communities improve outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system. She said her career skills will be an asset to the Village Board, as her work involves analytical thinking, bringing people together, forming solutions and making sure those solutions get implemented.

“That is probably one of the most important pieces in terms of the board functioning is how do we as a board support the decisions that are made and ensure that those decisions do get implemented as designed and that the residents can be assured that those services are delivered and the board and village government are accountable for those things,” she said.

Lauri Rollings, the owner of her own communications firm, said her career as an attorney and a writer has taught her to build consensus and synthesize complex information to relay to broader audiences. In addition to her communications firm, she said she recently accepted a position as Interim Director of the Plumbing Mechanical Sheetmetal Contractors Alliance.

Previous to forming her own firm, she was a senior staff attorney for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. Rollings said her experience with MMSD would be beneficial to the board, as it has given her expertise in both local sewer issues and MMSD governance.

As a trustee, she said she would push to have MMSD change rules governing the private property inflow infiltration program so that money allocated to communities would be based on infrastructure needs, not property value. She also said the village could benefit from having direct representation on the district's governing commission, which she said she would advocate for.

 “What we need to do is reduce the amount of storm water that is getting into the sanitary sewer system, which was really designed to take away your shower and toilet water. The way to do that is to pursue as much money as possible from the private property and inflow infiltration fund that MMSD is setting aside, “ she said. “We should also pursue other grant money and take a look at setting up our own pot of money to help defray the direct cost to homeowners making those infrastructure improvements.”

In response to an audience member's question, Rollings said her previous experience with MMSD does not create a conflict of interest.

“I will be an independent voice who is looking to help the Village of Whitefish Bay first and foremost,” she said.

All of the candidates said retail resurgence on Silver Spring Drive is another top priority. Martin said he would like to see a restaurant and other niche destination places, as did Demet. Rollings also suggested a casual dining restaurant, and said communication between the village and the business community could be improved by having a Trustee serve on the Business Improvement District. Szumski said high rent is part of the equation of why El Guapo’s and other businesses have had a hard time sustaining a presence on the street.

None of the candidates have been to many Village Board meetings before filing their election papers, with Martin topping out at three.

All of the candidates had ideas on how to improve communciations between Village Hall and the rest of the village.

Demet said the board needs a good listener that can communicate with people and bring humility to the board.

“I as trustee would keep in mind always that I would be accountable,” he said. “If you vote for me you would get a trustee that would be humble at all times.”

Szumski said she would like to see communication turned into a two-way street, and she said her perspective is the village government is there to serve the people

“There needs to be a customer service sort of philosophy behind respecting residents’ points of view and then being transparent about what’s going on to contribute to decisions that are made,” she said.

All of the candidates said they would be open to a consolidation of the Shorewood and Whitefish Bay Police Departments, assuming the costs, benefits and savings make sense. Rollings said she would be in favor of exploring consolidation, if it would save the village money while maintaining the same amount of patrol officers. Szumski said she would be hesitant about moving too swiftly toward consolidation, given the history and convenience of having a local police station.

In response to an audience member’s question, all of the candidates said it would be worth asking police and fire personnel to contribute more to their health insurance and pension benefits to match the other public employee benefit reductions to be seen under Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill.

As the village faces a potential $400,000 shortfall in funding under Walker’s biennial budget, candidates had a mix of responses as to how they would respond to the state revenue cuts.

As raising taxes is not an option under Walker’s proposal, Rollings said the village could take advantage of grant funding and growth in commercial development, and if there is still a shortfall, then the board could consider spending cuts before raising taxes.

Demet said there could be some equipment purchases that could be delayed if need be.

Martin said consolidation and other reductions would have to be considered, or possibly, lobbying Walker to allow more local control.

“This budget stymies any attempts to raise taxes through the normal budget process,” he said. “We have very little wiggle room there.”

The four are running to replace two vacant trustee seats. The top two write-in candidates in the election each will win a trustee seat, assuming they are legally qualified. A special election would be held in the event of a tie.

The two seats are 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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