Council Meeting Recap: Rain Barrels, Recycling And More

A quick summary from Tuesday’s South Milwaukee City Council meeting …

• The council voted 7-1 to give “first reading” to an ordinance regulating the use of rain barrels, including regulating their capacity (55 gallons or less), function (for use only for watering flowers, gardens or grass), number (no more than two for single-family and duplex homeowners, for instance), location (to be located only in side or backyards and at least 12 feet from any neighbor’s structure) and appearance (requiring various aesthetic treatments), among other technical wording. I voted no. Why? For years, we have had no rain barrel ordinance on the books — and, using a literal reading of our code, one could argue rain barrels were illegal because our ordinance banned all “cisterns,” with little elaboration. I pushed for a way to make them legal — and for common-sense restrictions on their use. Well, with the proposed ordinance, I think we’ve gone from under-regulating rain barrels to over-regulating them. We should encourage rain barrel use, or at least not discourage it. Placing too many restrictions on their use — especially those around location — will accomplish the latter.
• We voted unanimously to raise recycling fees for 2014, including from $45.92 to $50.51 for single-family homeowners. This decision can be directly tied to reduced state funding to local governments for recycling programs — money removed as part of the Republican state budget several years ago and never fully restored. South Milwaukee has covered much of that shortfall by applying “rainy day” fund balance to the program. And we’ll continue to do so in 2014, just in a more sustainable way.
• The council also voted to cancel our Nov. 19 and Dec. 3 meetings, leaving our Nov. 26 budget approval meeting in place to consider any necessary items. Here is a list of the upcoming key budget dates. 

The council also briefly discussed the recently released fire consolidation report. The upshot: It’s still early in the process, but at least we have a potential roadmap to seriously consider this issue. I will keep you posted … and encourage you to get involved in the debate. Your voices must be heard.