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.
To the Editor:
Several months ago, I wrote in support of Wausau hiring a city administrator. Now seems like a good time to review the situation.
Is the mall project any further advanced? No.
The start has been pushed back a year because of unanticipated increases in costs associated with labor and material – increases that few believe were unforeseeable. In response, the city is working to write conditions into a revised agreement with T. Wall Enterprises. Should such an agreement have been signed at the start? Yes. And adding further to the chaos, T. Wall Enterprises is threatening to sue the city. The project seems like it might not come to fruition; it’s on the bubble. In the meantime, S.C. Swiderski will be completing the Riverwalk apartments project, a project T. Wall Enterprises left behind to work on the mall project.
We have seen one delay after another. And one excuse after another. Council meetings are called, closed sessions occur, excuses are made, decisions re-scheduled for a future meeting.
Is this the best we can do?
I’d like to think that a city administrator could solve this, but that will not happen: It’s in the past now. However, I do think this happened because we did not have a city administrator on the job in the first place. The council, collectively or individually, is not a city administrator – it’s not their job and few are qualified. The mayor, though hard working, has other things on their plate.
We have to think of the future now. We need a professional leader to oversee the city’s operations.
The stakes are huge, as outlined in the Wausau Chamber of Commerce’s new video series, “Tipping Point: Reinventing our Community.” Wausau must reinvent itself, as it has done in the past. But does it have the capacity to do so?
In the state, most cities of our size have an administrator.
Today, Kenosha, Racine and Sheboygan all have professionally trained city administrators in place. So do Waukesha, Wauwatosa and West Allis. These cities have figured it out.
We are getting out-competed for talent and development. Right now, the trajectory for Wausau is downward. We do not want to go there – to be a city that failed to reinvent itself. What was it Isaac Newton said? “A body in motion will remain in motion and direction unless acted upon by a force.” A city administrator can be that force — they can change the trajectory and help move us move upwards.
The question is not, “Should we hire an administrator,” but when.
Hiring an administrator will cost the taxpayer, but it will pay for itself year over year. The absence of an administrator has in fact already cost us. One estimate of the loss of tax revenue by the delay is $615,000, and denying a contractor access to the site for contracted soil clean-up work cost us a further $150,000. These estimates do not include legal costs and staff time. All told, the cost is around $1 million.
Wausau taxpayers just received the Fall 2023 “Wausau Works For You” in the mail. The front page headline is, “It is officially budget season in the City of Wausau.”
Now is the time to add a city administrator to the budget and change the trajectory of our city.
Let’s make an overdue investment in a stronger Wausau!
Keith Montgomery
Note: 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.
