Mayor Jim Paine veto’s lead pipe ordinance

SUPERIOR, Wis. — This evening, Mayor Jim Paine decided to veto the City Council-approved lead service line ordinance during the Superior City Council meeting.

After reviewing the amended language, Mayor Paine spoke with city councilors, saying some of the amendments are incomplete or incorrect. He says publishing the ordinance now would create unnecessary costs and that the five-day review period was not enough time to fully evaluate its impact. For now, Mayor Paine is referring the ordinance back to the Public Works Committee for further review.

“I definitely support this ordinance, and I intend to sign this ordinance we are this is a tool that will help us replace lead lines faster and hopefully more affordably to people,” said Mayor Paine. “I think it does that, but since we have to fix it anyway, let’s give ourselves more time.”

Mayor Paine says he does expect it to pass, but it doesn’t need to be passed until this summer.