It's a 'No' for Referendum Request

request to put city projects that would cost above $50 million was effectively turned down Tuesday night when the Common Council did not vote on the referral and the issue was pulled from the agenda.

Scrima confirmed Tuesday night that the item could be pulled from the agenda after it was denied by the Finance Committee and the Ordinance & License Committee.

The request would have included the city’s future water supply that is required to be developed by June 2018 to a referendum, which some alderman stated publicly they would have a problem with. The lowest estimated cost for a water supply is $164 million.

 Even Alderman Eric Payne, who frequently votes against city expenditures, said he would not support sending the issue to a referendum.

“I don’t think these type of things should be put to referendum,” he said.

Alderman Terry Thieme, who serves on the Waukesha Water Commission, said he would be against a referendum on issues that the city is required by law to address. The city is being court-ordered to follow the Environmental Protection Agency’s limits on radium levels in its water supply. Currently the city does not meet the EPA’s standards and is ordered to fix the issue by June 2018.

Thieme said he wanted to make an educated decision when voting on those important issues.

“We would be stuck,” Thieme said. “It would be something that we would be mandated to do and we couldn’t do it.”

Alderman Joe Pieper said there had been good decision at the Finance Committee level about how other communities address referendum decisions.

“My stance has been very consistent on this. I do not support referendums,” Pieper said. “I am a strong believer that each of us are elected to make the very difficult decisions that are needed to be made. We are here to devote the time necessary to make those decisions.”

Meanwhile, despite Scrima agreeing Tuesday night that the issue could be pulled from the Common Council agenda, he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this issue might not be over. He may bring the issue back but with changes to his original request like dollar amount and excluding the city's future water supply from a referendum, he told the newspaper.