It appears the battle between Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and County Board Chair Marina Dimitrijevic continues.
Milwaukee County Board Chairwoman Marina Dimitrijevic’s request for full membership on the city-suburban Intergovernmental Cooperation Council was shot down Monday on an 11-9 vote.
Among those voting against giving Dimitrijevic voting rights on the council was County Executive Chris Abele, who has separately advocated for smoother relations with the County Board. The county executive, as well as mayors and village presidents from Milwaukee County’s 19 municipalities, make up the council’s current membership.
Dimitrijevic had sought the seat on the council as a means to foster goodwill with suburban leaders, many of whom have objected to past county funding decisions and pressed for downsizing the County Board. She called the rejection of her bid for a council seat a missed opportunity for improving relations among local government leaders, but said she’ll keep attending meetings of the council.
It’s important to note that while Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett supported Dimitrijevic’s bid to become a voting member of the ICC, he did express concern that allowing Dimitrijevic voting rights on the ICC would lead to additional requests for voting rights by municipal board leaders and eventual dilution of the panel.
I am very pleased with County Board Chair Dimitrijevic’s outreach to the municipalities in the county and her interest in fostering a dialogue between the board and the county. Whether she is actually on the board or not, I am pleased to see that she will continue to attend meetings.
I agree with Mayor Barrett in supporting her request to join the ICC but I think he is right that the ICC shouldn’t get too big to be effective. And the since the ICC gets to determine its own membership and is strictly elected executives rather than legislative officials, it is unlikely the County Board Chair will be allowed to join anytime in the near future.
But I am not sure this is a further indication of a battle between the County Exec and the Board Chair…that being said, having supported his bid for office, I am not particularly happy with CE Abele’s administration so far. He doesn’t seem to be a whole lot more transparent than his predecessor.
Yeah, I’ll agree that I’m happy to see Dimitrijevic is going to continue to attend meetings despite her not being granted voting privileges.