Damakant Jayshi

On Tuesday, Water Commissioner Joe Gehin, the former DPW director currently employed by a consulting firm doing business with Wausau, rejected any question of impropriety related to his presence during deliberations in which the contracts and extension for his employer are under discussion.

“For the record, there was no conflict of interest for me to be part of the discussion and action to continue the pilot study,” the Becher-Hoppe employee said, after the meeting was formally adjourned.

In June, Gehin proposed finding new locations for wells as alternatives to PFAS-contaminated existing wells. That suggestion became part of the proposal discussed in July by the Wausau Water Works Commission, when Gehin wanted to make sure that the minutes of the June 20 meeting clearly mention that the proposal approved by the commission included seeking new well locations. The task of finding the alternative sources of has been assigned to Becher-Hoppe.

A letter from Donohue’s Mike Gerbitz to Lindman on July 1 mentions the consulting firms’ roles and states that “Becher-Hoppe will lead the design of site improvements and continue to support pilot testing.” The letter also said Becher-Hoppe will lead a “cursory evaluation of alternative waster sources,” a suggestion Gehin made on June 20. The letter says the task is “a direct response to a recent Gehin comment.”

The ‘design’ category has been allocated largest amount of the $698,705 proposal: more than $450,000. It was not clear how much of this would go to Becher-Hoppe.

And in August, Gehin made the motion to approve the one-month extension of the pilot study.

Gehin’s continued presence on the Wausau Water Works Commission has led to questions about a potential conflict of interest. Critics have drawn the attention of city leaders, including the mayor and City Council president, and asked that Gehin be removed from the commission. Becher-Hoppe, since Gehin’s appointment to the commission in 2013, has received multiple contracts from the city for high-profile projects. The total value of those contracts remains murky, due to the city’s failure to respond to open records requests seeking those details. 

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.”

On Tuesday, soon after the meeting began, Gehin tried to respond to a Wausau Pilot & Review story about his conflict of interest. But Mayor Katie Rosenberg prevented him from doing so, saying the matter was not on the agenda and suggested that he do so at the end of the WWW Commission’s meeting.

He tried again, just before the adjournment of the meeting, with the mayor again asking him to do so after the meeting was adjourned. Gehin has not responded to an invitation to comment to the newspaper about this issue.

Damakant Jayshi can be reached at [email protected]. Contact Wausau Pilot & Review’s editor and publisher, Shereen Siewert, at [email protected]. Follow Wausau Pilot on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/wausaupilot.