County Board Seat on the Nov. 4 Ballot

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On Nov. 4, residents of District 5 of the Milwaukee County Board will vote in a special election for their next supervisor.

This district has been left without representation since this spring, when Russell Stamper II won election to the Milwaukee Common Council. The L-shaped district encompasses a diverse slice of Milwaukee. It runs from Townsend Street south to I-94 on the West Side, then along a narrow strip running north of Wisconsin Avenue to the lakefront. The West Side, Marquette, Merrill Park, Central City, East Town and the Third Ward neighborhoods all lie within it.

As a result of the Republican-backed Act 14, the board will have a much-diminished role in running the county. Supervisors can approve or reject large contracts but cannot amend them, nor can they serve as a complete check on the policies of Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. In 2016, supervisors’ pay will be reduced to about $24,000 without benefits and they will be more or less working on a part-time basis.

Candidates Charlie Fox and Martin Weddle spoke to the Shepherd about their campaigns and why they want to serve as District 5’s next supervisor.

Charlie Fox

Charlie Fox is a long-term care advisor and community advocate who has extensive experience with local nonprofits, including Journey House and the ACLU of Wisconsin. He said he expected up to eight current supervisors to not seek reelection as a result of Act 14, and his broad experience within the community would be an asset during this time of high turnover.

“The board’s power has been diminished, but it still has a $1.3 billion budget,” Fox said. “It still administers veterans’ programs and Medicaid and handles the parks and the museums. It has a thousand properties that it has to deal with. Those kinds of issues have to be dealt with.”

Fox said he could bridge the needs of the district, which includes some of Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods on its west side as well as some of the most affluent residents in the city, who live in the Cudahy Tower and University Club Tower.

“I can deal with the issues on both ends of the district, as different as they are, without a long learning curve,” Fox said.

Fox said he was most concerned about three county-owned development sites within the district: City Campus, on 27th and Wells, as well as O’Donnell Park and the Transit Center on the lakeshore.

The county executive has included $3.8 million in his proposed budget to tear down City Campus; Fox said he’d like to preserve the Historic Tower Theater space, which could be used by performing arts groups in an area that lacks entertainment options.

“A major chunk of the western portion of District 5 will be affected by what happens at City Campus,” Fox said. “I’m very concerned about it.”

He said he’d take a close look at and ask tough questions about the pending deals to sell O’Donnell Park and the Transit Center without a formal, public bidding process. He said that if O’Donnell Park is ultimately sold, he wanted guarantees that the parcel would be preserved as parkland, which isn’t stipulated in the county’s proposed agreement with Northwestern Mutual.

To learn more about Charlie Fox, go to foxforsupervisor.com.

Martin Weddle

Martin Weddle has worked for Milwaukee County for almost a decade and is currently a legislative policy research analyst and a legislative aide. He also works with youth at Journey House Center for Family Learning and Youth Athletics, Inc.

“I see a need in the community,” Weddle said of running for the board despite its diminished power. “I’ve worked for the board, and understand the dynamics and nuances of it. I have a thorough understanding of the issues and the legislative process. I could take a leadership role and create more positive change in the county.”

Weddle said the most pressing issues facing the district are the lack of family-supporting jobs, expanding transit and enhancing public safety in the district’s high-crime neighborhoods.

He said he’d like to collaborate more closely with the city on bringing jobs to the district.

“The city has different funding streams coming to them and the county has different funding streams,” Weddle said. “But I think that there are ways that we could partner on this and collaborate.”

Weddle said he could utilize his experience on transit and relationships with transit policy makers to boost the county’s funding and services. He’d like to see a dedicated funding source so that bus routes won’t be cut and fares won’t increase, especially fares for ParaTransit riders.

“I don’t think that’s fair for the elderly and disabled,” Weddle said. “I think they’re the last ones who need a rate hike and route cuts.”

Weddle said that perhaps the sheriff could pull some deputies from the freeway patrol so that they could be present in vulnerable neighborhoods, as well as work more collaboratively with the Milwaukee Police chief. But the county also needs to support more mental health and substance abuse programs, as well as address issues stemming from poverty in general, he said.

Weddle said he’d like to see City Campus become a mixed-use development with space for youth and educational programming and services for seniors, as well as some commercial enterprises, such as retail. He said he was listening carefully to neighbors’ and parks advocates’ concerns about the sales of O’Donnell Park and the Transit Center.

To learn more about Martin Weddle, go to weddleformilwaukee.com.