Mission

The mission of the City of Wauwatosa is to provide accessible services that are essential and enhance the quality of life across the community and the region, in ways that are inclusive, efficient, effective, and affordable.

Vision

Wauwatosa is a safe, welcoming, and inclusive community, that provides excellent city services while maintaining a high quality of life for residents, visitors, and businesses.

Organizational Values

• Adaptability
• Equity
• Inclusion
• Innovation
• Resilience
• Respect
• Service excellence
• Transparency

Goals and Key Implementation Tasks:

• Ensure Wauwatosa is a hub for economic diversity and innovation.
  • Research best practices for promoting and encouraging economic diversity.
  • Develop and/or partner with programs supporting economic diversity.
  • Support existing small business innovation accelerator programs. 
• Increase opportunities for Wauwatosa residents to work in the City.
  • Track unemployment rates to determine if there is a need to increase opportunities.
  • Partner with local businesses to develop a marketing campaign to promote employment opportunities for jobs located in Wauwatosa.
• Promote and support local businesses and anchor institutions.
  • Continue to engage with local business groups.
  • Design and implement a marketing campaign to support local businesses. 
  • Redevelop former Boston Store to the highest and best mix of uses. 
• Develop tools to balance economic development with neighborhood preservation. 
  • Seek input from community groups and other stakeholders to determine the appropriate balance within each unique neighborhood through the Comprehensive Plan process. 
  • Research best practices to create opportunities that balance economic development and neighborhood preservation.

Goals and Key Implementation Tasks:

• Improve communication and trust internally and with the public.
  • Develop and implement a strategic communications plan for the Police and Fire Departments.
  • Develop and maintain an inter-departmental and community engagement calendar.
  • Develop opportunities for cross-departmental interactions. 
  • Maintain the Employee Resource Group to assist in enhancing workplace culture at the Police Department. 
• Proactively address pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular safety.
  • Study accident history across all City streets.
  • Develop a program such as Vision Zero with the goal of summarizing all existing City reckless driving reduction programs as well as expanding upon programs where need exists.
  • Develop a prioritized infrastructure improvement plan based on crash data that prioritizes improvements that will reduce the likelihood of accidents. 
  • Update the Bike and Pedestrian Plan with a focus on pedestrian and cyclist safety.
• Increase the City's capacity to provide mental health resources for the public and employees. 
  • Ensure sustainability for the Social Worker position that supports Police, Fire, and Health to assist residents with navigating and accessing mental health services.
  • Develop and maintain a mental health resource guide to assist community members with accessing mental health treatment options.
  • Fund continued substance abuse work with opioid settlement funds.
  • Lead a coordinated effort with community partners to address mental health by improving navigation and access to existing resource and identify gaps within the system.
  • Integrate mental health resources into existing communications.
  • Update the employee handbook and benefit guide to explain to employees the mental health resources that are available. 
  • Review the city’s benefits offerings to evaluate if additional resources are warranted.

Goals and Implementation Tasks

• Optimize infrastructure to handle 100-year weather events (e.g., storms, temperature, etc.)
  •  Develop the City’s Five-Year Capital Improvements Program in a manner that prioritizes investment in stormwater management projects.
  • Finalize the citywide stormwater Management Plan.  
  • Identify potential funding sources, including state and federal grants.
• Ensure the City’s infrastructure supports public health through multi-modal transportation and recreation opportunities
  •  Support rideshare opportunities in the City, such as Bublr bicycles and electric scooter rideshare programs.
  • Complete public health impact assessments on larger development projects, particularly those requesting TIF or other city funding.
• Identify opportunities to invest in and increase energy efficiency in City operations
  •  Develop the City’s Five-Year Capital Improvements Program in a manner that prioritizes investment in projects that reduce the City’s carbon footprint.
  • Identify funding to implement City and Community programs that reduce our carbon footprint.
• Identify improvement options for the Schoonmaker watershed
  •  Develop and issue a request for proposals (RFP) for engineering consulting services to evaluate the final two preferred alternatives that the Common Council has identified (Alternative Analysis).
  • Finalize the Alternative Analysis, including public input, and present findings to the Common Council.
  • Present options for funding this mega project while balancing other capital needs throughout the city.
• Increase alternative (non-property tax based) funding to support capital projects
  •  Implement a Transportation Utility, which will allow for funding of roadway improvements through the utility.
  • Plan to achieve 40% cash financing by 2030.
  • Identify potential grant opportunities and apply for them as they are identified.
  • Identify projects with the potential for public-private partnerships.

Goals and Implementation Tasks

• Expand the availability of inclusionary housing for all
  •   Maintain an inventory of multi-family housing developments 4 units and above.
  • Ensure regulations do not create limits on building smaller homes or smaller home subdivisions.
  • Regularly update the City’s Housing Study and Needs Assessment to identify the City’s housing needs.
  • Identify and recommend housing policies and programs.
  • Research and identify barriers that make it difficult to expand the availability of inclusionary housing.
  • Pursue the possible creation of a Community Land Trust (CLT) through the work of the CLT Committee. 
• Foster a balanced approach to housing throughout the City 
  •  Identify housing development based on best practices that align with community needs and the Comprehensive Plan.  
• Update the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Code
  •  Create a new Comprehensive Plan. The planning process will include extensive public participation.
  • Update Zoning Code as necessary based on recommendations in the new Comprehensive Plan in compliance with State law.

Goals and Implementation Tasks

• Develop and implement an environmental adaptation plan
  • Create and fund a dedicated staff member that can manage sustainability efforts for City.
  • Identify a funding source to complete an Environmental Adaptation Plan.  
• Align public health resources in the City with those across the region and state
  • Proactively respond to emerging public health issues by formalizing cross-departmental and community-based approaches to infectious disease and substance use response.
  • Develop and incorporate Public Health 3.0 strategy to:
    • Improve health department financial planning and ensure sustained funding for the Public Health Strategist, Substance Use Specialist, and shared Police, Health, and Fire Social Worker, and
    • Utilize data tools and dashboards for program evaluation and improvement, and
    • Advance health equity by engaging in community partnerships and implementing policies and programs to address systemic determinants of health. 
• Improve community spaces through ecological enhancements
  • Complete a Park and Greenspace Master Plan as an addendum to the current Active Tosa Plan. The proposed new plan would focus on activating underutilized spaces within our current parks; highlighting and preserving natural, historic, and cultural resources; and identifying new opportunities to create public spaces throughout the City.
  • Complete construction of 116^th Street Park.