By Keith Montgomery

Wausau is an outlier in city governance in not having either a city manager or a city administrator: 95% of cities in Wisconsin have such a position.

Does it matter? Maybe being different is a good thing. Except that, in this case, it clearly is not.

In 2016, two UW Oshkosh researchers, Karl Nollenberger and James Simmons, published the results of a comprehensive study of city government structure in Wisconsin titled, “Municipal Government Structure in Wisconsin: Does Form Matter?”

Turns out, form matters very much indeed, and their results align with a national study they completed in 2011.

Analyzing Wisconsin cities with over 5,000 residents, they found that “Wisconsin cities without an administrator have some of the highest levels of confrontation/conflict in the governance process in the United States.” Locally, recently, does that sound familiar? Have major projects, such as Riverwalk developments and the mall site, been moved along efficiently?

A good and competent administrator will pay for themself many times over, by assuring that the various parts of an organization work together efficiently toward common goals. Yet, residents despair over the lack of political will to make the necessary changes.  

However, Mayor Rosenberg has put forward a proposal that could — if amended — lay the foundation for hiring a city administrator. 

The mayor has requested that the City Human Resources Committee, at its Monday, June 12 meeting, “approve the addition of [a] Communications Officer Position,” with a salary of up to $84,905.  Mayor Rosenberg offers the following in justification of this new position:

  • “The city has grown in complexity.”
  • “The City needs a Communications Officer to send a centralized message to outside entities.”
  • “When there is not one consistent message form [from] the city, problems can arise.”

However, our problem is not poor communications. Our problem is poor organizational design, which affects all else, including accountability and transparency, as well as communications. Besides, there is nothing in the primary duties of the communications position, as written, that a competent administrator could not handle. But this point misses the mark entirely: The kind of communication we sorely need is not so much “messaging” as clarity and consistency in negotiations with developers, something an administrator can help the mayor and the council with. Results can speak for themselves.

The reporting structure of Wausau city government is dysfunctional and lacks accountability. On paper, the mayor supervises the heads of city departments, and council members cannot give direction to the department heads.  However, the mayor has no means to hold city department heads accountable.  Once appointed, department heads can only be terminated through a verified complaint that demonstrates cause, and then only with a three-fourths majority vote of the council (i.e., nine of eleven council members).

Decentralized messaging, lack of coordination, and lack of accountability are the natural outcomes of this structure. The taxpayer is poorly served by this loose organization. Tightening it up would help move initiatives forward. An administrator can assist both the mayor and the city council in the efficient running of the city.

Wausau is almost unique in not having an administrator.  School districts all have superintendents to fill that role.  Most of our neighboring communities have city administrators. The county has an administrator.

A better organizational structure would be to have an “at-will” city administrator, appointed by the mayor and the council, jointly.  The department heads should, in turn, be at-will direct reports to the administrator.  In the absence of this kind of structure, how could we ever expect coordination or accountability?

So, let’s not stop short. If there is to be a mid-year addition to the budget, make it count.  An administrator position would encompass the essential duties of a communications director and so much more.  This is an opportunity to change city government for the better.

Keith Montgomery is the retired Dean and CEO of the University of Wisconsin Marathon County and a former member of the Wausau School Board. He currently serves on non-profit boards in Marathon and Vilas Counties.