Common Council Debates Non-resident Appointments to City Committees

During Tuesday night’s meeting of the Common Council, a somewhat-lengthy debate that grew tense at times and even caused some confusion over parliamentary procedure emerged during discussions about making changes to a couple of city ordinances that govern boards, commissions, and committees.

Fifth District , who recently served as the Common Council’s liaison to the Library Board, sought to have new language inserted into an ordinance that would require all citizen members appointed to serve the board to reside within the city.

Currently, there is one citizen member who recently stepped down from the Library Board to take a position outside of the school district. As an appointee from the Muskego-Norway School District, Ron Rivard is from Waterford, in Racine County. 

Soltysiak served a one-year term on the Library Board until this past April, when the Common Council did its routine reappointments of committee assignments following spring elections. Second District Alderman Kert Harenda is the current Council member on the board.

Soltysiak argued that it’s only right that members of a board who are voting on spending decisions with property tax dollars from a specific municipality should reside within that community.  He maintained that it was not a matter of who personally was serving, but a matter of where appointees reside.

“I’m concerned with having people in place who are in positions to spend city of Muskego taxpayer dollars, who don’t pay taxes and who don’t live in the city,” Soltysiak told the Council at one point during the meeting, later adding, “I think it makes sense that if they’re spending city of Muskego taxpayer dollars that they be residents of the city.”

However, Soltysiak ran into resistance from other Council members, who questioned why something that seems to be working is in need of a fix.

“The current board is functioning well - I don’t see anything malfunctioning. In other words, if it’s not broke, why are we trying to fix it?”, asked Seventh District Alderman Noah Fiedler.

First District Alderman Tracy Snead also asked “What is right and for whom? This may be right for the city as it is right now.”

Sixth District Alderman Neome Schaumberg proposed a compromise that would limit the board’s make-up, which has a total of nine members, to have only up to two members that can reside outside of Muskego. Currently, there are no restrictions on residency requirements.

Fiedler appeared to think this was a good compromise, saying that it would prevent non-residents on the Board from being able to form any kind of majority vote and therefore minimizing the impact of non-residents making spending decisions with Muskego taxpayer dollars. Overall, he didn’t see any concern whatsoever with allowing non-residents to serve on the Board, and he echoed the point expressed by other aldermen that non-residents can offer a great amount of expertise to a city board, commission, or committee.

On that note, Fourth District Alderman Keith Werner stated that an outside fire chief headed up the committee a few years back that worked on the merging together of the Tess Corners and Muskego fire departments. The chief was valued for his expertise and insights, it was pointed out.

Ultimately, Schaumberg’s amendment passed 5-2, with Harenda and Soltysiak opposing it. Harenda at one point during the meeting said this should be an issue sent back to the Library Board to be worked out there.