By Keith Montgomery

Yes, sometimes you just have to step up and recognize that things are not working as well as they should. Unfortunately, that’s where we find ourselves now in Wausau.

City government is not just the place we go when a streetlight is out, but it has also become the place we rely upon to attract and keep the industry and jobs that are the cornerstone of our quality of life. In the nearly fifty years since the passage of Wisconsin’s Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) laws, municipal governments have been increasingly thrust into the role of primary stewards of economic development. Is the City of Wausau up to meeting our needs in this area? Do they have a record of success?

Over a hundred years ago, as logging and related industry declined, there was the “Wausau Group,” that championed new infrastructure, such as the Wausau’s airport, and helped shift Wausau’s economy towards manufacturing and insurance services.

In the 1980s, the city’s economic redevelopment committee championed the mall project to revitalize downtown and create economic growth. For almost 30 years after it opened in 1983, the mall was a huge success, bringing people in from all over Marathon County for shopping and socializing. But a shift in the last 10 years in shopping habits led to its decline and, in 2021, its closure. Now we must navigate a new transition.

Today, we still have champions, such as the Wausau Opportunity Zone Group (WOZ), which has taken control of the redevelopment of the Wausau Mall property. In partnership with the City of Wausau, the purchase of the mall property was funded by two local foundations, the Dwight and Linda Davis Foundation and the Judd S. Alexander Foundation.

The current project has more moving parts than the mall project of the 1980s. However, from the beginning, the project has been subject to delay after delay – most recently blamed on financial shortfalls and economic conditions. Why weren’t basic contingencies for inflation and higher interest rates – common in development agreements — built into the development agreement in the first place?

And unlike the past, the city’s financial exposure is significant. As City Alderman Doug Diny put it in a recent letter, “. . . when the city over commits upwards of 30% of the costs and much of the city’s investment comes upfront, as it does with the mall, the risks are enormous. When the city’s stake is carrying the developer, any problems with the project’s cash flow get returned to the city” (“City alder says development delays are a Wausau embarrassment” Wausau Pilot and Review, June 14, 2023).

Recently, Matt Straub also reviewed the city’s financial exposure on the mall site project, as well as the state of the Riverlife project, of which he wrote: “It isn’t a priority and feels almost stalled” (“Downtown Wausau project is a very expensive gamble” Wausau Pilot and Review, June 13, 2023). Riverlife is far from the bustling, placemaking project we were sold.

Over and over, we are led to the same question – aren’t we overdue in Wausau in recruiting a city administrator to lead city staff and strengthen city operations?

Look at the state of affairs in the Bull Falls brewery failure and the debt now owed the city on the developer agreement with the brewery from 2012 (“Bull Falls Brewery for sale, impact on taxpayers uncertain” Wausau Pilot and Review, April 30, 2023). Oh, and before that, there was the World Market debacle (“City leaders, staff in ‘wait and see’ mode over Wausau World Market even as bank moves to foreclose property” Wausau Pilot and Review, October 7, 2021).

If the City has a mixed record as a facilitator of economic growth, it ought to be at least covering basic services like running water, trash pickup, good roads, and police and fire protection.

But if we take a longer view, there have been significant, ongoing issues in the running of the City. The concerns now being expressed are not something new.

In a March 25, 2015, editorial supporting a “Yes” vote on a referendum to hire a city administrator, The Daily Herald wrote: “We should consider the new form of government on its own merits rather than simply reacting to current City Hall and City Council personalities and personality conflicts.” Oh, does that sounds familiar eight years later!

Why did the editorial board support the hiring of a city administrator? After reviewing a long list of departmental operational failures – including manipulation of the mall assessment to reduce its tax bill — the Herald stated, “. . . the fact is that the Council cannot and should not fix problems deeply ingrained in the operations of city departments. The Council should create policies. Operations need an operations manager.” And this remains even more obvious and true today!

This is simple. If we want to regenerate our community, we have to restructure our governance model to be able to seek out top talent and then hold it accountable. Gone are the days when we can limit our management pool to Wausau and expect to compete in the modern world.

I encourage the mayor and city council to take up the issue of hiring a city administrator immediately. Wausau’s high mill rate and high debt per capita already place us at a competitive disadvantage. Continued mismanagement of the former mall site and riverfront developments could cost millions more with nothing to show. If we move now, we could have an administrator on board by October 1st, giving them the time to impact important priority setting for 2024.
Let’s get this done now.

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.

Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email [email protected] or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.