Politics & Government

Water Commission Disagrees on Negotiating Team Members

Commissioner Zinda tells Waukesha Mayor Jeff Scrima he would be the "weak link" on the water negotiation team.

The Waukesha Water Commission voted 5 to 1 Thursday night to recommend the Common Council designate City Administrator Lori Luther and Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak on the negotiating team that speaks with Milwaukee, Oak Creek and Racine about purchasing Lake Michigan water.

The Common Council will make the ultimate decision on who is on the negotiating team.

The water commission is recommending two additional, unspecified people on the team after commissioners could not come to an agreement on who they wanted to serve. Mayor Jeff Scrima voted against having Luther on the team. Alderman Terry Thieme and others felt there should be no elected representatives.

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The commission’s president, Dan Warren, and Commissioner Greg Zinda wanted the Common Council president to serve on the commission. That was voted down by the other commissioners.

Scrima, as mayor, also wanted to be on the negotiating team, which has not historically been done in Waukesha and other communities, according to discussion during the meeting.

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"Staff people, they are great, but they are not elected to represent the citizens within districts or at large," said Scrima, adding that he was elected by the popular vote.

Waukesha Water Utility General Manager Dan Duchniak explained the past practice has been used to separate the decision makers from the negotiation process because it keeps the various political views from the negotiation table.

"The water negotiating team would get its direction from the Common Council, which would be involved in closed session discussions providing that negotiation strategy," Duchniak said.

The negotiating team does not have the power to commit to a deal or a contract with any of the communities. The team also has to abide by the rules and direction given to the team in closed session by the Common Council.

When a final agreement or conclusion is in place, the full details of the agreement eventually be presented through open records and voted on in an open meeting.

The meeting got controversial as several commissioners called out Scrima for negotiating in the press and for his negative comments the last year.

At one point in the meeting, Zinda told Scrima that he would be a “weak link” on the negotiating team.

“Milwaukee is going to say ‘Good, Scrima is here, now we have Waukesha at a disadvantage,’” Zinda said.

Zinda made his comments after Warren said the other communities would not take Scrima seriously because of his historical comments blasting Milwaukee and saying he does not view Oak Creek and Racine as viable options.

"Are you serious," Scrima responded, who earlier said he made the negative comments in negotiation with Milwaukee.

 Zinda told Scrima his presence in the negotiations would be detrimental to the negotiations process because he had made it clear he is in opposition to the Common Council's decision to seek Great Lakes water.

Scrima said he would "let the other side know that they are going to have to give the citizens of the city of Waukesha an extremely good deal."


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