By Shereen Siewert
Concerns over a potential conflict of interest for a Wausau commissioner employed by a firm involved in the ongoing PFAS pilot study and multiple other city projects won’t be investigated unless a resident files a formal complaint, officials said.
The issue centers on the role of Becher-Hoppe employee Joe Gehin, a member of the Wausau Water Works Commission. Becher-Hoppe, since Gehin’s appointment in 2013, has received multiple contracts from the city for high-profile projects including work on the Thomas Street redesign, Wausau Business Campus Water Tower, Wausau sewer siphon, downtown airport hangar and parking lot, Townline Road project, River Edge Trail, and the multi-million dollar water treatment facility now under construction .
But the total value of those contracts remains murky, due to the city’s failure to respond to open records requests seeking those details. On Aug. 8, Wausau Pilot & Review submitted a request under the state’s Open Records Law to help gauge the city utility’s financial relationship with Becher-Hoppe, but those requests, despite multiple emails to the mayor, city attorney and department heads, remain unfilled as of Aug. 23. State law requires municipalities to fill open records requests “as soon as is practicable.”
Attempts to contact Gehin, who is listed as a senior public works consultant on the Becher-Hoppe website, have also been unsuccessful.
Despite earlier vows to refrain from participating in decisions that impact the firm, Gehin has been in the room for discussions about city projects connected with his employer, including a decision made Aug. 2 to continue the PFAS study, which comes with a $30,000 price tag and is spearheaded by Becher-Hoppe and another firm. Gehin is the Commissioner who put forward the motion to continue the study, a move that was subsequently approved.
Wausau City Code defines standards of conduct for both elected and appointed officials. A portion of the code states that “no individual shall benefit from their presence in city government.”
Dino Corvino, a Weston resident, wrote to several council members and City Attorney Anne Jacobson raising his concerns about potential ethics violations. He sent a previous email to Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg that also expressed similar concerns.
“I think the City Code is clear about this,” Corvino said. “Gehin’s presence on the Commission has either directly or indirectly led to his employer benefiting. He recently moved that a contract with his employer be extended, which seems to be in direct violation of the City Code.”
This is not the first time Gehn’s appointment was questioned. In 2014 a state agency investigated whether then-Mayor Jim Tipple violated ethics codes by appointing Gehin, knowing that he worked at a firm that frequently does business with the city. Gehin himself was the first to seek an opinion on whether the appointment was ethical, according to a Wausau Daily Herald report. The state’s Government Accountability Board, which has since been disbanded, investigated the issue but found no wrongdoing.
At that time, Gehin, who also served as the city’s utilities director for 25 years before his 2009 retirement, vowed to “leave the room when decisions regarding his employer came up.”
Corvino, in his letter to City Council President Becky McElhaney, urged her to “take action and remove Gehin from the Water Works Commission” and told Wausau Pilot & Review he would like the Ethics Board to investigate Gehin’s role and determine whether he is following city rules that prohibit benefiting from such a position.
But despite bringing his concerns to city leaders, officials say no investigation is underway, nor will there be one, unless a Wausau taxpayer files a formal complaint. Corvino does not live within city limits.
In an email to Wausau Pilot & Review, Attorney Jacobson said city officials must follow the law and “respect due process concerns for all involved.”
“To trigger an investigation of a violation of our ethics code (ordinance), there must be a complainant and a verified complaint,” Jacobson wrote. “Likewise, to act on an application, a license, a permit, a petition – the City requires an actual completed document to trigger whatever applicable process follows.”
When such complaints are filed, the city clerk transmits a copy of the verified complaint to the Ethics Board, which determines if further investigation is warranted and what additional information, if any, they want, Jacobson said. The City Attorney provides counsel to the Ethics Board.
Corvino said that process appears flawed, because it puts the burden of investigating and understanding whether a city commissioner is following Wausau’s rules on the public, rather than the people who are tasked with the day-to-day operations of the city – and are in the best position to know whether such actions are proper.
“In my opinion, if someone says to the mayor and the city council president and the city attorney that something seems off, it shouldn’t fall on a city taxpayer to put themselves out there and file a complaint,” Corvino said. “It should fall on the people who know the rules and enforce the rules. Not the general public.”
Corvino also said that in his understanding, even living in Weston, he would have standing to file an ethics complaint.
“I did not do it at the time in hopes that someone in Wausau either staff or alders would take this on, as I emailed all of them. But they did not,” he said.
Mayor Rosenberg, who chairs the Water Commission, pointed to the state statute in defense of the city’s position.
“Removals from office for cause under this chapter, except as provided in s. 17.14, shall be made as provided in this section, and may be made only upon written verified charges brought by a resident taxpayer of the governmental unit of which the person against whom the charges are filed is an officer, and after a speedy public hearing at which the officer shall have full opportunity to be heard to present a defense against the charges, personally and by counsel,” the statute reads.
An email to Becher-Hoppe president Karl Kemper this week seeking comment was not returned.
