Mayor Scrima gives BID Board recommendations to Waukesha Common Council

After all but two of its members resigned last month, the Waukesha Business Improvement District Board has been out of commission.

The Board, which represents the self-taxing district in downtown, could not go on without new appointments made by Mayor Jeff Scrima.

After submitting a letter of recommendation to the Council on Friday, the Common Council will discuss and could approve them at its meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night at the City Hall Council Chambers.

Bill Huelsman, a property owner (Berg Management) and Natalie Walters (property owner’s representative on behalf of Waukesha State Bank) were the only two left from a 13-member BID Board after resignations flowed in after the BID’s executive director resigned citing a “hostile work environment.”

But because there needs to be seven members to have a quorum, the mayor has made five recommendations – three of whom (Roger Igielski, Ron Lostetter and Jim Taylor) are former BID Board members who just resigned last month.

Igielski is a downtown business owner and counselor at Waukesha County Technical College, Lostetter is a chief financial officer at Carroll University and Taylor is a property and business owner at Taylor’s People’s Park restaurant in downtown Waukesha.

The other two recommendations are Ed Henschel, who the mayor said would represent the BID as a city resident and as the city administrator, and Nick Martinez, an attorney and a downtown resident and property owner with Martinez Law & Mediation Center.