Town of Lisbon - Town Chairman Michael Reed says he is considering appointing former Supervisor Wendy Landry to a newly created committee to study whether the town should seek incorporation as a village.

Reed said he will ask forTown Board approval in May to create the committee. Reed wants the committee to review the recommendations of the so called "visioning committee" which worked last summer with a consultant to develop governance alternatives for the town.

The committee recommended that the town enter into new, and improve existing, border agreements with surrounding communities and consider incorporation as part of the town's long term land use plan.

The committee suggested incorporating into a village might help the town preserve its tax base and boundaries.

Reed said he wanted Landry to serve on the new committee because she is familar with issues related to incorporation and was a member of the visioning committee.

Landry, who was defeated for reelection in 2007, made an unsuccessful bid to be appointed by the Town Board earlier this week to fill a vacancy created by the resignation in February of former Supervisor James Stadley, who was convicted of a felony related to a domestic abuse incident involving him, his wife and child.

Town of Lisbon - Voters at an Annual Town Meeting Tuesday night urged Town officials to "prepare to pursue the incorporation process" in an effort to protect the community's tax base and borders and provide autonomy in land use decisions.

The voters also asked Town officials to prepare a comprehensive land use plan and make other land use decisions "with the goal of incorporation in mind."

Some residents and Town Board members voted against the motions arguing that the Town Board already has the authority to consider incorporation. The town is also in the process of drafting a new zoning code and has been in negotiations for new and stronger border agreements with some of its neighboring communities.

Town Chairman Michael Reed said he anticipates there will be public information meetings later this year to consider future town governance alternatives.

The series of advisory motions appeared to ratify a draft recommendation offered last summer by a citizens group that suggested town officials should seek more and stronger border agreements with neighboring communities and consider incorporation as a village or city as a long term goal.

Proponents of incorporation have argued it is the only alternative that protects the towns' borders from being annexed by neighboring cities and villages and allows the Town to make land use decisions that are not subject to review by Waukesha county officials.