When Alderman Rick Tortomasi ran for office six years ago, he was concerned about a few key issues, including a continuously increasing tax rate, the Waukesha west bypass plans, fire service on the west side of the community and the city's future water supply.

Tortomasi, who has represented District 13 for two full terms, is not seeking re-election this year. Tortomasi's employment involves a lot of traveling, which he said has made it hard to get to meetings.

The greatest part about being an alderman, Tortomasi said, is explaining how the city works and "being able to respond to neighbors' complaints or concerns and being able to get information to them when they don't understand how to get things done."

Tortomasi, who currently serves on the Finance Committee, Waukesha Water Commission and Cemetery Commission, said that he only supported two of the six budgets because he felt there was more that could be done to lower the tax rate. He said he voted against the 2011 budget because he felt it was voted on too soon when there were other proposals that could be discussed.

"Lowering taxes was harder than I thought it would be," he said.

Tortomasi said he believed the hour and a half of public comments of people looking to save funding for the bus system lead to the shortened discussion by the Common Council. The look at decreasing funding for Waukesha Metro Transit had been proposed by Mayor Jeff Scrima but had not been brought forward by any of the aldermen, he said.

"The budget every year is a challenge," Tortomasi said. "I have been on the Finance Committee for most of my time. We go through six weeks of meetings and analyzing the budget, every line item on there, and questioning all the department heads on why they want to spend the money."

Of course, there was water

When Tortomasi started as an alderman, he was faced with the reality that Waukesha has to reduce its radium levels from its water supply by June 2018.

He was concerned about the future water source and became involved with the water commission.

"It seemed like a simple thing to me, let's treat some wells and we will be OK," he said.

But Tortomasi soon learned developing a water source was more complicated. The city is seeking approval from all the Great Lakes states to pipe Lake Michigan water to Waukesha. The water would be purchased from Milwaukee, Oak Creek or Racine, depending on negotiations and approvals.

Tortomasi said after reviewing a future water supply study that examined the city's options, he decided to support the Lake Michigan diversion, which was identified as Waukesha's best alternative.

"If we had a choice, would we go to Lake Michigan?" Absolutely not," Tortomasi said. "That would be the last thing we would do. … Boy, if there was another way, I would jump on the bandwagon, but we haven't been able to find it."

Three people are currently looking to fill Tortomasi's seat after the April election. District 13 residents Andy Reiland, Phil Esche and Richard Badke are in various stages of getting their name on the ballot. All nomination papers need to be filed by Tuesday.

Tortomasi has advice for whoever is elected to the District 13 seat.

"It is a lot more work than you think," he said. "You better be willing to put in the time or you won't be an effective alderman. The job is only as good as the time commitment you can make to it. "