Damakant Jayshi

A month after voting down a unanimous recommendation to reappoint a commissioner to the Rib Mountain Metropolitan Sewerage District, the Marathon County Board of Supervisors on Thursday voted to reconsider the appointment to the local sewerage board.

The vote on Thursday was 19 in favor, seven against, while two supervisors abstained. Ten other supervisors were either excused or were absent. The board voted on the motion to reconsider despite the Thursday’s meeting being an educational one, which usually does not have actionable items on the agenda.

On July 18, the Board of Supervisors voted down a recommendation from the Rib Mountain Metropolitan Sewerage District, reached unanimously on July 11, to reappoint Commissioner Craig Mortensen from Kronenwetter for a period of five years. That vote was 17 against the reappointment, 13 in favor, with eight supervisors either absent or excused. Mortensen’s term had expired on Aug. 11. The board had approved the appointment of Mortensen twice before.

According to RMMSD, the sewerage body is a single-purpose municipal corporation “whose sole duty is to be a regional wastewater treatment facility.” Built in 1985, the facility treats the wastewater from the Village of Weston, the Village of Rothschild, the Village of Kronenwetter, the City of Mosinee and the Rib Mountain Sanitary District. It is governed by a five-member commission.

Supervisor Joel Straub, who represents Kronenwetter, had objected to Mortensen’s reappointment at the July 18 meeting of the Marathon County Board of Supervisors, saying the commissioner did not serve the interests of the Village of Kronenwetter residents.

After the county board rejected the nomination, the metro board of commissioners again recommended Mortensen’s reappointment unanimously earlier this month.

Given the makeup of the vote on Thursday, the reappointment is likely to be approved by the 38-member board at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 22. Six of the supervisors who had voted against the reappointment last month changed their vote to yes to reconsider the reappointment. Three who had voted in favor of the appointment last time were not present on Thursday. One supervisor who had voted no last time abstained on Thursday.

The motion to reconsider was made possible because one supervisor of the prevailing side in the last month’s vote – the majority that rejected the reappointment recommendation – requested a reconsideration. As Corporate Counsel Michael Puerner explained the rules, only a supervisor from the prevailing side can make such a motion; it can be seconded by any supervisor.

Supervisor Bruce Lamont, who had voted no, requested County Board Chair Kurt Gibbs to have a motion to reconsider.

“I feel we only heard half of the story at our July meeting,” Lamont said. “The letters of support that we received tonight speak volumes.” He was referring to the letters the sewerage district’s director had submitted earlier at the meeting. Lamont said the letters showed Mortensen was appreciated and highly qualified.

At the start of board meeting on Thursday, the Director of RMMSD, Eric Donaldson, spoke highly of Mortensen during public comments period of the board’s meeting, saying everybody at the metro board was “surprised and disappointed.” [Donaldson and Marathon County Administrator Lance Leonhard have used the term commission, metro board and sewerage district interchangeably during their remarks and in documents.]

Donaldson also submitted letters of support from each of the communities as Leonhard had asked him to do, in addition to suggesting he discuss the matter with County Board Chair Kurt Gibbs after the RMMSD director conveyed the intention of the metro board to the county administrator. Leonhard has asked the sewerage board to submit a new nomination after the county board’s decision last month.

The RMMSD director also refuted Straub’s allegations last month against Mortensen. He said the statutory requirement to be a commissioner on the metro board is that the person needs to be resident of the district. They do not necessarily have to have a connection to the sewer, as Straub pointed out last time.

On the allegation that Mortensen did not perform for the Village of Kronenwetter residents, Donaldson said: “Craig has served the metro and metro communities very well for over six years. We rely on his experience as a business owner.”

Straub objected to Donaldson’s remarks, saying he presented the matter as if the supervisor was personally attacking Mortensen. Before the vote, he asked Corporate Counsel Puerner if he could submit “further evidence” against Mortensen if a motion to reconsider the reappointment was approved. The supervisor added that there are three people who can speak about the character of the commissioner. He added that last month he brought a “verifiable open meetings law complaint against the applicant.”

“Will I be able to submit that to the full board?” he asked.

Puerner replied that he could raise the matter during the debate on Tuesday, when the full board will consider the matter.