Crowley on ‘UpFront’ says he’s focused on flooding response

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley is praising the Evers administration’s response to major flooding last weekend as he prepares to launch a gubernatorial bid in the coming weeks.

“You know, I haven’t even been thinking about this run right now,” Crowley said on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “The most important thing is delivering for the folks right here within Milwaukee County. And so, as I look for what the possibilities are when I enter this race, it’s really going to be focused on kind of an extension of what Gov. Evers has been able to do for us right now. Gov. Evers has been doing great, and I want to make sure folks understand that he’s been here, and I think he’s going to be coming here quite often to see what this damage looks like and seeing how this process goes moving forward. But, you know, the governor has done everything that he can. I’m really proud and appreciate his helping hand.”

Crowley said the push for federal aid is critical, given the more than $23 million in initial damage estimates in the county alone.

“It’s going to be very difficult,” Crowley said, if no federal assistance becomes available. “I will tell you that here in Milwaukee County we’re going to continue to work with the Wisconsin Emergency Management, working with Gov. Evers to try to tap into the state emergency fund to deliver for our community, but it’s going to be very difficult for us to rebuild back to the place where we were without any federal assistance.”

Crowley added discussions will also begin across the county on what, if anything, can be done to prevent future flooding.

“I think a lot of people are looking for who to blame,” he said. “But let’s be very clear that this was a weather event that happens every thousand years. And so I don’t think that there was a way for us to prepare for this, but this does warrant conversations about what we can do moving forward to our infrastructure to reduce this level of flooding.”

Also on the show, Wisconsin Emergency Management Administrator Greg Engle says it will take some time before it’s known whether Wisconsin will receive federal flooding assistance.

“I think it’s going to be critical because we don’t have a similar program here in the state,” Engle said. “We want to get that assistance to our families and folks in Wisconsin, but I will say it’s not immediate.”

FEMA crews are expected in southeastern Wisconsin this week to begin their federal assessment.

“We’re working as quickly as we can, but it will take some time,” Engle said. “Our FEMA Region 5 team out of Chicago, they support us, and they’ve been very, very supportive. They have committed to working with us on this preliminary damage assessment. We expect they’re going to be very supportive, but I cannot guarantee that we’ll get approved for a disaster declaration.”

Engle underscored the state’s relationship with FEMA.

“It’s difficult to tell right now what the future is going to look like with FEMA,” he said. “I will just say we rely on FEMA. We work with FEMA every day. We have FEMA personnel embedded with Wisconsin Emergency Management who provide support to us on a daily basis. We get training from FEMA. We get planning assistance from FEMA. So FEMA’s role is not just during disasters. FEMA is an important partner for planning and preparedness as well.”

Tyler Byrnes, a researcher at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, says last weekend’s flooding will likely result in the largest spike in flood damage claims in decades.

“Milwaukee County and Waukesha County together have the most insured property through flood insurance,” Byrnes told “UpFront.” “This was a thousand-year rain event, and so it seems like this is going to be a really big spike, if not the biggest one, of all time.”

A new Wisconsin Policy Forum report outlines a spike in flood-related claims and payouts in Wisconsin in the past 45 years.

“We’re seeing big clusters of claims about once a decade,” Byrnes said. “These sorts of rain events are becoming more likely as the climate warms and we get more rain in bigger chunks. So we’re more likely to have an eight-inch rain event than we were 40 years ago, and in the future, we’re going to be even more likely to see. The other major factor in why we’re seeing so much more flood damage is that as the population is urbanized, we live closer together, and we change how land is used.”

Byrnes said it’s unclear if this is sustainable for state and local governments.

“Both governments are having a hard time paying for core services,” Byrnes said. “The cost of everything is going up. The cost of labor is going up, while revenues aren’t climbing quite as fast. That’s the case with dealing with stormwater, those sorts of things. A lot of stormwater management is funded, again, through fees on homeowners. That raises the cost of housing, raises the cost of living for residents, and so, it can be difficult to make sure that there’s enough money to pay for all these expanding needs.”

Also on the program, Mike Haas, Madison’s city attorney and acting clerk, says he anticipates “the city will be meeting what the commission requested,” after the Elections Commission ordered new changes after nearly 200 absentee ballots went uncounted last November.

“I don’t think that serves voters to continue a legal debate with the commission,” Hass told “UpFront.” “I don’t see any issue with the clerk’s office being able to comply. I think some of the specific or the specifics of logistically how to comply still need to be sorted out by the clerk’s office, but I anticipate that the city will be meeting what the commission requested.”

Haas previously questioned the commission’s authority in issuing the new orders and urged an opinion from the attorney general’s office before Friday’s 5-1 vote.

“My initial reaction was that this order was really out of the ordinary and how specific it was not to correct an ongoing issue, but to require additional processes in the future for a clerk who is no longer with the city, and that are not required by other municipalities and that go beyond what is actually required in the statute,” Haas said. “So I thought it was important to document that we all have roles in elections at the state level, at the county level, at the municipal level.”

Commissioners Ann Jacobs and Don Millis found former clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl, who resigned amid the fallout, violated state law in her handling of the incident.

Haas said the city has already made numerous changes ahead of the commission’s findings and new orders.

“We always revisit what happened at the election, look at what lessons were learned,” Haas said. “That’s true at both the state level and the local level. Changes have been put in place starting with the February election. I think those changes have worked. We continue to revisit those, consult with our poll workers, see what they have to say.”See more from the show.