OUR Milwaukee County: Listening Session Hosted by Patricia Jursik

I was able to attend the OUR Milwaukee County listening session hosted by County Supervisor Patricia Jursik in South Milwaukee. Supervisor Jursik titled the event as Restructuring County Government. And I applaud her format for the event, far different and far more effective than the previous two sessions that I was able to attend.

After outlining the format and laying out some ground rules for civil interaction during the event, Sup. Jursik spent some time reviewing the structure of county government, described to roles of the county board and the county executive, and reviewed the responsibilities of the seven board committees, discussing the significant topics they are currently reviewing. It’s about time that one of our supervisors takes the time to explain what county government is and what county government does.

After introducing State Representative Joe Sanfelippo and County Supervisor Theo Lipscomb, each major item from Rep. Sanfelippo’s Assembly Bill 85 was displayed on the screen behind the stage and Sup. Jursik carefully recapped them for the audience. Then Rep. Sanfelippo explained his reasoning for the item and Sup. Lipscomb was able to respond. This certainly aided in understanding the bill and was fairly effective in drawing out the opposing points of view around each issue. I will try to get some of the differing points published over the next few days.

The last twenty minutes were devoted to taking written questions from the audience that Sup. Jursik relayed to either Rep. Sanfelippo and Sup. Lipscomb…interspersed with live comments from the audience.

All in all a very effective evening and a better way to learn about the varying ideas about county government reform!

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