Waukesha Mayor Wins First Round In Water Power Play

The Journal Sentinel has a great summary of the way things stand in Waukesha now that the DNR has sent back the city's Lake Michigan diversion application with an "Incomplete."

Remember how Waukesha switched technical consultants at the end of last year, then pushed to have the Common Council vote on application on April 8th - - even though the application had become a hot button in the Mayoral campaign, with application backer Larry Nelson, the incumbent, going down to defeat at the hands of application skeptic Jeff Scrima.

In the story, now-Mayor Scrima comes off as solution-driven and diplomatic: he wants a fresh dialogue with other officials - - even after the City Attorney dissed the Mayor and refused to issue a written explanation of changes made to the application after the Common Council had approved it on April 8th and the water utility delivered it to the DNR on May 20.

Scrima says more options have to be studied, and the DNR says it awaits those study results.

But the Waukesha water utility manager allied with the City Attorney - - is saying "no" to the new Mayor, too.

The power struggle continues, but in this round - - Scrima wins - - and if and when the application is amended or redone as the DNR and the Mayor, and perhaps others suggest, it will definitely go to the Council for a fresh review.

Which is what Scrima had been saying.