Editor’s note: This story was posted prior to the announcement that Thursday’s meeting is canceled as a winter weather storm continues to move through the area. The meeting will be rescheduled.

By Shereen Siewert

City leaders on Thursday were set to hold a meeting to review Wausau and Marathon County’s response to serving homeless residents and will discuss creating a new department to address those needs – but that meeting has been postponed due to weather concerns.

Gary Gisselman, who represents Wausau’s Dist. 5, and Tom Kilian, representing Dist. 3, made the request in January to set a Committee of the Whole, which was approved by a 8-3 margin. Lisa Rasmussen, Sarah Watson and Dawn Herbst voted against the motion to hold such a discussion.

Advocates are asking Wausau to create a new department of social development and action to ensure the needs posed by homeless residents are met. In January, Wausau Police Chief Ben Bliven presented the Council with a Point in Time count that estimated more than 200 people in Marathon County do not have a place to live. The number of unhoused, he said, is likely in the realm of 300 people including people living in parking ramps, parks, cars, shelters and other non-permanent homes.

When the meeting request was debated, Council President Becky McElhaney, who voted to hold the COW meeting, cautioned her colleagues not to promise too much – as the way the city addresses the homeless issue also depends on Marathon County’s response. Wausau cannot guarantee that the county will attend that meeting, she said.

But communication issues appear to be a stumbling block, at least so far. On the Marathon County side, only the Parks Department appeared on the agenda as part of the review process, though the Marathon County Health Department and Social Services are among the agencies that play a crucial role in the effort.

Late Monday afternoon, Marathon County Administrator Lance Leonhard told Wausau Pilot & Review he had not yet been invited to attend.

“I have not been formally invited to attend the meeting or to provide information to the council,” Leonhard said. “A number of our departments do have occasion to interact with unhoused persons during the course of delivering our programs and services, but I would allow each of those departments to best explain that work. I can share that I did have occasion to speak with Alder Killian on two occasions relative to some questions he had posed to me relative to emergency management and emergency declarations and that Mayor Rosenberg has provided me general information relative to the council’s consideration of how best to address homelessness in the community.”

Kilian said he later learned Leonhard would likely attend, a development he characterized as positive for the community, given the variety of relevant initiatives by organizations such as North Central Health Care and other county departments related to the issue.

Kilian said the Wausau School District’s McKinnney Vento liaison, Andy Grimm, was also willing to attend the COW if he receives an invite. Under the McKinney-Vento Act, every local educational agency must appoint a local homeless education liaison. In Wausau, Grimm is that designee.

Communication issues aside, Kilian appears hopeful about the outcome of the COW.

“Even prior to the COW meeting’s occurrence, scheduling it has already been very positive on the civic front even before the meeting has started, as it appears from meeting-related research and information that there are a variety of relevant services and initiatives — both past and present — from different facets of Central Wisconsin government that could be of help to our citizens, and I do not believe that the full city council has ever been briefed on the set of them in this manner before,” Kilian said. “Depending on who ultimately attends and what is presented, that may finally happen now.”

Gisselman, while requesting the meeting last month, told the Council he wants the group to be completely informed with “high hopes of helping the homeless.”

“I’m not sure what will happen but at least we’ll heave the opportunity to hear from providers and hear the state of homelessness in the community,” he said.

A date for the rescheduled meeting has not yet been set. Meanwhile, public comment can be submitted by email to the City Clerk, at: [email protected] and mention “Committee of the Whole” in the subject line.