WAUSAU – The town of Rib Mountain can hold off making uniform addressing changes until their lawsuit against Marathon County is decided on appeal, after a judge granted a stay earlier this month.
The stay, granted Dec. 6 by Marathon County Circuit Judge Greg Huber, means the town can wait before implementing a planned uniform addressing system for the county, at least temporarily.
Rib Mountain is challenging Marathon County’s power to make such changes in “non-rural” roads. The court ruled in Marathon County’s favor in late August, but the town filed an appeal in November and asked Huber to halt the changes while the appeal is being heard.
Huber ruled that leaving Rib Mountain’s addressing grid while the case is being decided will not significantly impact public safety and is the best way to prevent possible harm to Rib Mountain, according to court documents.
Marathon is one of three Wisconsin counties that lacks a uniform address system. Duplicate addresses can lead to confusion for emergency responders, leading to slower response times that could threaten public safety, supporters of the change say. Towns in the county are required to participate in the new system, but cities and villages can opt out.
The village of Weston opted out of the addressing change last month.
Briefs from both sides of the fight are due in court later this month.
