As part of our 25th anniversary issue, we asked business and community leaders to suggest big ideas and goals for Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin over the next 25 years.
To help highlight these ideas, we’re opening up access to one idea per day to all our readers. On Tuesday, we highlighted NEWaukee co-founder Jeremy Fojut’s suggestion that the city of Milwaukee create a Department of Transformation. The article is still available for BizTimes Insiders here.
All readers can see a full list of the contributors and their big ideas here.
The department Fojut is suggesting would focus on areas like talent, the future economy, cost savings and inefficiencies and culture. Fojut said it is needed “to solve problems and uncover inefficiencies while also working to improve systems, inspire innovation across sectors, and evaluate outdated projects and procedures.”
Discussion about the idea on social media largely centered on the best approach to achieve these goals, not whether the city needs to be pursuing them.
Love these focus areas, but don’t agree a new government department is necessary. A good Mayor should be focused on these issues all day, everyday. https://t.co/counCNPeu9
— Matt Cordio (@MattCordio) March 30, 2021
The Mayor is supposed to be the idea officer.
— Jordan Morales (@Morales4MKE) March 30, 2021
We put to much emphasis on one person in government and are often disappointed. We need to empower many people to be able to change instead of just one. But I get your point.
— Jeremy Fojut (@JeremyLFojut) March 30, 2021
City of Milwaukee has the annual operating costs of a fortune 400-500 tier company. A business at that size would have a board (council), a CEO (mayor), and probably 8 to 10 C-suite level executives.
It’s not clear from the outside what city hall’s org structure even is.
— Michael Bradley (@mbradle3) March 30, 2021
Milwaukee is too big of a city to have a mayor with that wide If a scope imo
— hammer (@MitchellsonB) March 30, 2021
A mayor is an elected position. The role inherently is suited to making “popular”decisions, not necessarily the best decisions. MKE needs to focus on merit, results, & being competitive.
— Ross Leinweber (@BoldCoastCap) March 30, 2021
Beyond whether innovation and transformation should be the responsibility of the mayor or a new department, readers also chimed in on what the focus of a transformation position should be:
We already have an intergovernmental affairs staff that should be doing that.
— Jordan Morales (@Morales4MKE) March 30, 2021
Breaking down barriers between the City & other government entities to advance the City’s agenda.
— Jordan Morales (@Morales4MKE) March 30, 2021
My point is that a new department wouldn’t fix that. An administration that doesn’t foster innovation isn’t going to work well w/ their innovation department either. Our existing departments don’t always get along w/ the mayor either (see Health Dep’t or Office of Equity).
— Jordan Morales (@Morales4MKE) March 30, 2021
Readers also pointed out that other cities have departments working on similar issues:
Boston has an interesting model to emulate, as well as a CIO in the cabinet they created the dept. of New Urban Mechanics. https://t.co/qwzNzWkiBz
— Ian Everett (@ianeverett) March 30, 2021
I’ll also add that #localgov in MKE doesn’t have a shortage of innovative ideas, we simply lack the resources to execute most of them.
— Ian Everett (@ianeverett) March 30, 2021
