The Two Rivers City Council is opposing state legislation that would subject local stormwater utilities to regulations by the state’s public service commission.
City Manager Greg Buckley says the bills were created by a representative and assemblyman from the Oshkosh area.
They are State Representative Michael Schraa and State Senator Dan Feyen.
He says it’s the city’s opinion that they will be okay to run their own utilities without the state having to overlook it.
“State government has got better things to do and we’ve got better things to do than to be encumbered with additional regulation,” Buckley said during the meeting.
City Engineer Matt Heckenlaible says he was part of a listening session and learned that the public works director of Oshkosh wanted the legislation.
“My understanding is the chamber of commerce in the Oshkosh area deeply opposed the creation and functionality of the Oshkosh stormwater utility,” he explained. “And basically has made it his (the Oshkosh public works director) mission to dissolve it or highly regulate it.”
In the end, he says the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce doesn’t want businesses to fund the stormwater utilities but rather the residents like in any other city. The bills are still in committee in both Wisconsin Houses. The bill is also opposed by the Wisconsin League of Municipalities.
