It looks like a lot of poop went down at last night’s Water and Sewer board. (Oh, goodness, that was awful, but I really, really, couldn’t resist.) The City, or rather the City’s Water and Sewer board, is digging in their heels about a development going in that needs services.

(Make no mistake: Mayor Steve Ponto is no friend to the Town of Brookfield. I’m pretty darn sure from comments he’s made in the past that he would mind seeing the Town disappear. I, on the other hand, have never understood the propensity to exacerbate the disconnect between the Town and the City of Brookfield. The boundaries exist. Get over it.)

Lots and lots of people, from my personal experience, really like living in the Town and love the idea of their lower taxes. Granted it comes with less service, but they don’t mind. And let me add, since the City’s hyperactive police and fire departments seem to show up on a ton of Town calls, why the heck would the town folk pay for more?

I like Director of Public Works Tom Grisa very much, but I’ll confess he gets pissy (oh, sorry, did it again) when he talks about giving an inch to the Town in sewer or water services. He wants control. He LIKES control. He’s generally good at the things he controls, so it doesn’t bug me much for City stuff, but this is messing with the chance of adding a magical chunk to the tax base around here. Can you maybe compromise just a little bit?

No, it doesn’t make a lick of sense, but under Wisconsin’s laws towns, villages and cities all exist with intricate borders. Over the recent years, towns have been strengthened under these laws. (Somebody give me some history here: my instinct says town resident Scott Jensen had a hand in that, but I don’t have the documentation.) The Town of Brookfield has a right to exist whether the City of Brookfield likes it or not.

In the meantime – I might be wrong here, but doesn’t a developer have a right to services? I kind of remember something about that once. It’s not like the developer is committing the sin of owning property in the Town and wanting City water!

Here’s a map showing the area owned by the developer scribbled in yellow.