Joe Phillips, the Common Council member representing District 7, was elected by his peers as president of the city's governing body on April 28, as the newly elected council members took their seats for the new term.
Phillips was the only member of the council to run for election as president. In brief comments before the vote, he said he wanted to encouraged lively, respectful debate on the council as it tackles difficult problems facing the city.
"That means we disagree. I mean, we really can disagree," Phillips said. "But disagreement is not the destination. It's how we find our way to something better together."
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Phillips cited some of what he sees as the big issues expected to come before the council in the coming years, including renovations to the City Hall complex, a plan to address flooding and erosion of Schoonmaker Creek, replacement of residential lateral pipes and continued expense and revenue pressure on the city's budget.
"These are not problems to be managed around, but they are the work. And what orients that work for me is the common good," he said. "Each of us carries particular concerns of the people who have sent us here, and that's right and proper. But the task, the noble task, is to bring those concerns to bear on a larger question, what is actually best for Wauwatosa. I believe we can be that council."