Waukesha Water Commission Meeting – August 20, 2026: Demolition Contracts, Lease Renewals, Lien Payment Approved
Waukesha Water Commission Meeting – August 20, 2026
The Waukesha Water Commission met on Thursday, August 20, 2026 at 6:00 PM in open session. The meeting covered approval of prior minutes, several action items including demolition contracts, lease renewals, a lien claim payment, a financial report, and updates on the new operations center and utility performance. A closed session was held to discuss the General Manager position, after which the commission directed staff to extend an offer to the final candidate. All votes in open session were unanimous.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (ID#26-04166): The July 16, 2026 meeting minutes were approved without discussion. Motion by Commissioner Curry, second by Commissioner Francour. Passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were received; no emails from the public were noted.
Discussion Items
- SHPO Determination for Newhall Site (ID#26-04203): Staff provided an update on efforts to remove the historic reservoir at Newhall Avenue and West Avenue from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) listing. The site, formerly Well 4, contains a dilapidated historic reservoir. Staff noted that SHPO requires mitigation, which could involve a website memorial or a plaque. The Landmarks Commission was briefed but has no formal role since the site is on the state registry. No action was required; staff will continue working with SHPO.
Key Outcomes
- Approve General Fund and Improvement Fund Payments (ID#26-04167): Voucher lists were approved. Staff noted two $10,000 checks were stolen from the mail and the bank prevented fraud via a new positive pay system at $30/month. Motion by Commissioner Curry, second by Commissioner Matthews. Passed unanimously.
- Bankruptcy Writeoff (ID#26-04168): Approved writing off $7,588.21 in water-related charges (including $5,435.45 for water and $2,152.76 for an unpaid invoice from a hydrant hit). These cannot be placed on property taxes under state law. Staff noted a budget of ~$10,000–$11,000 annually for write-offs. Motion by Commissioner Francour, second by Commissioner Curry. Passed unanimously.
- Disallow Claim – Food Ingredients Inc. & Badger Distribution Inc. (ID#26-04169): The commission denied a claim of $175,894.78 for flood damage on February 24, 2026, at 1900 Airport Road. The insurance carrier found no negligence by the utility. The claimants were invited but not present. Staff also consulted the city attorney. Motion by Commissioner Curry, second by Commissioner Pyatt. Passed unanimously.
- AT&T/New Cingular Wireless Lease Renewal Amendment (ID#26-04170): Approved a six five-year renewal term (with 17.5% rent increases each period) for equipment on the Davidson Tower (2150 Davidson Drive). The lease expires April 2027; the utility can terminate with 60 days’ notice. Staff confirmed insurance requirements were met. Motion by Commissioner Francour, second by Commissioner Pyatt. Passed unanimously.
- Verizon Wireless Lease Renewal Amendment (ID#26-04171): Approved a five five-year renewal term (with 10% rent increases) for equipment on the UW Waukesha Tower (1020 N. University Drive). The lease expires September 2026; the utility can terminate with 90 days’ notice. Staff noted lengthy negotiations over insurance. Motion by Commissioner Francour, second by Commissioner Pyatt. Passed unanimously.
- Well No. 6 Demolition Contract (ID#26-04184): Awarded to Collyard Demolition for $299,000 (budgeted $529,000). Four bidders; low bidder from Hudson, WI. Staff verified references and equipment; work must be complete by end of May 2027. Motion by Commissioner Curry, second by Commissioner Matthews. Passed unanimously.
- Well No. 5 Demolition Contract (ID#26-04185): Awarded to Collyard Demolition for $270,000 (same four bidders). Work can begin sooner than Well 6. Motion by Commissioner Francour, second by Commissioner Matthews. Passed unanimously.
- Change Order #3 – New Operations Center (ID#26-04202): Approved $54,188.83 to Miron Construction for a protective guardrail between the pond and driveway and modifications to site fencing. The guardrail addresses a 10-foot drop; fencing changes follow police recommendations after a break-in and vandalism. Budget contingency covers this. Motion by Commissioner Curry, second by Commissioner Francour. Passed unanimously.
- Payment of Lien Claim to Arrow-Crete Construction LLC (ID#26-04212): Approved payment of $257,026.37 to Arrow-Crete, a subcontractor of SJ Lewis on the Great Water Alliance project. SJ Lewis did not pay Arrow-Crete, who filed a lien. Per state statute and legal advice, the payment will be offset from retainage owed to SJ Lewis. The commission also recommended the Common Council authorize a release agreement. After discussion about precedent, staff confirmed the process follows statute and will come from retained funds. Motion by Commissioner Curry, second by Commissioner Francour. Passed unanimously.
- Direction to Offer General Manager Position (Closed Session): In open session following closed session, the commission voted unanimously to direct the president and staff to proceed with making a job offer to the final candidate for General Manager. Motion by Commissioner Francour, second by Commissioner Curry. Passed unanimously.
Information Items (No Action Taken)
- New Operations Center Update (ID#26-04195): Staff showed photos of construction progress, including interior ceiling grid, stairs, HVAC, and fire-rated room. Guardrail and fence modifications were also discussed.
- Utility Performance Report/Administrative Activities (ID#26-04172): Topics included: ongoing deposition/testimony in litigation, participation in Night Out, final audit financials, planned washing machine rebate program, a PSC complaint ruled in utility’s favor (customer appealed), ADA website compliance, billing software upgrade, compensation study, coordination of office move, summer picnic, fantasy football draft, water main incidents, hydrant/valve survey, hydrant painting, trench rescue training with fire department, disconnection of Well 5 and Well 6 systems, lead/copper sampling results (90th percentile lead: 0.98, action limit 15; copper: 65, action limit 1300), water modeling nearing completion for ISO, and cybersecurity discussion with SCADA provider. Cybersecurity will be discussed in closed session in September.
- Financial Report (ID#26-04173): Revenue for July was under budget (~2.5%) but over budget year-to-date due to hot/dry weather. Expenses included a higher Milwaukee Waterworks invoice. A non-cash amortization of donated Great Water Alliance assets ($158,000/month for 20 years) was recorded per PSC direction. Cash balance started at $54.3 million, ended at $55 million. Several capital projects were completed or deferred to 2027 (William Street).
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned after the closed session vote.
Meeting Transcript
All right, everybody, we are live. All right, welcome. I'd like to call this meeting to order. It is Thursday, August 20th, 6 p.m. This is a regularly scheduled city of Waukeshaw Walkawater Utility Commission meeting. Um I would like to announce uh before roll call that uh we intend to uh uh make a motion to convene in closed session pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.85 sub one sub C to consider unemployment promotion compensation or performance evaluation data of the general manner position over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. A motion may therefore thereafter be made to reconvene an open session pursuant to Wisconsin statute 19.05 sub two, whereupon action may be taken on matters discussed in closed session. All right, now that that announcements made, we'll move on to roll call Commissioner Francour here, Commissioner Fowl, absent commissioner curry here, Commissioner Pyatt here, Commissioner Matthews here, Commissioner Bartels here, Commissioner Helvin Slayben Absent. Okay, that moves us on. All right, excellent, thank you. Moves this to public comment. Um there's nobody from the city here tonight. Any emails from folks that no, I don't have anything. Okay, all right. That moves us into approval of minutes. Second uh Curry Frank Core motion and second all said that we're okay. Any questions or comments about the minutes from uh July. Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye aye. Opposed abstain. Pass unanimously. All right, thank you. All right, that moves us into uh action items. Action item 5A approved payments from the general fund and the improvement fund. So move Curry second second uh Matthews. Um I do have one comment on here, just uh a note. It's actually the last voucher um list. Um there are a couple of voided checks you'll see at the very bottom there. Um one is Dan, he lost his check, but the other um it does say fraud on there. So we had um two ten thousand dollar checks uh stolen from the mail. And basically what they did was um signature, check number, amount, everything was the same, but they uh whitewashed or washed out the name and put a different name in the pay to. And the bank actually caught it because um the check stock didn't look the same. Um so as a result of that, um, and we also had a fraud call um like two Fridays ago. So um, as a result of that, um, we are implementing or we have implemented something called positive pay, and this is basically uh a tool that is going to help prevent this because had these checks gone through, um, we would be out that money, and so that's that's a lot of money. And so um this is a fee that would be about $50 a month. I did get them down to $30 a month. Um, so we basically give them a listing of all of our checks, and it kind of goes against those, and then if they see anything out of the ordinary or doesn't match, or if you know something gets triggered, we get an email that's both for ACH and checks. So then we'll get an email that I have to go in and approve each day. It has to be done before 11 o'clock every day. Um, in order there's some rules on that. Um, but um, so that that is a new thing that we put into place just because those are large checks, and we obviously um don't want that to happen again if they can just pull stuff out of the mail. So awesome. Is that positive pay insurance then? Like one happens to sneak through. Uh are we still liable or uh we we um well uh we are in the end still liable, yes, but I don't think it will just because we give them that listing, and so anything that's on there should and again, like I said, ACH is another one that um this will protect us from Courtney. What do you think that's gonna take as far as time management? Um it will take a little extra time. It will um they are going to it, so right now um the state banks uh online system is a little harder to use. They are going to a new system mid-September, and so I'm hoping that um that it will be easier to use like on our phones or anything like that, um, just because we obviously don't want anything, anything that we we missed that 11 o'clock date, it's gonna automatically not allow them to cash that check. So we we don't want that to happen, so that so it will take some time to do that, and we just have to make sure that we're on it and are checking those over, but um, I think it's a good protection, and it's actually something that um insurance company had also mentioned and things like that.
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