Less is more? County Board reduces 10 seats

The Waukesha County Board voted last night to reduce the size of their board from 35 to 25 seats. The MJS article stated the vote was 21-14 and that changes would take effect in 2008.

The threat of the Waukesha Taxpayers League's petition to reduce the board to 11 members, I think, helped persuade the board to vote for this reduction now. Reducing the Board to 25 is a good starting point. Waukesha is a large county. By comparison, Brookfield has 14 aldermen (some of course put more into their jobs than others).

I know there are those who favored the 11 member board, but I believe that is asking for trouble. Remember, these positions are only part time and pay around $9,000 a year. Now think about increasing each member's work load by 66%. I doubt you are going to get the board members to add that work load increase for the same compensation. The last thing we want to do is turn each supervisor seat into a full time position at full time pay!

Last year when a supervisor position was vacated, Barbara Roncke interviewed and was appointed to fill the seat. The requirement was 1 day time and 1 evening Board meeting, and 1 day and 1 evening committee meeting. The reality of the job was that there were more meetings than anticipated. The day time committee meeting turned into an all day meeting once a week. The Supervisor position was much more than the 8 or so hours a month! Barbara was not reelected however, it remains to be seen if Tom Schellinger is able to devote as much time to the job. (The daytime meetings are difficult for members who have other full time positions.)

We will have to wait and see if this reduction was a good step or not. Many supervisors run unopposed at election time. Will this reduction increase competition for the positions or will people shy away from the job because now the work load has increased? Time will tell.

Links: www.betterbrookfield.com