Get to know Wausau City Council candidates in Dist. 1

What motivated you to run for office?

Lukens: Passionate about civic engagement and community, I’ve long believed participation in local government is critical because it impacts us most directly. At the first council meeting after I was elected, an experienced alder told me that just about the time one’s first term is up, you start to feel like you’re really understanding things and he was spot on! There’s so much to learn as a city council member. An alder’s responsibilities are not just making decisions on council and other standing committees, but also directly serving district residents. I thoroughly enjoy learning about issues, serving residents and community members, and would appreciate the opportunity to dig deeper now that I have a much stronger background on matters deeply impacting residents and the overall community.

Kronenwetter: I love this community and I want to see Wausau prosper long into the future. The southeast side was a great place to grow up and a great place to raise my children. My family has been on Sturgeon Eddy for five generations and many of my neighbors have been familiar faces my entire life. Yet the southeast side remains a welcoming place for new arrivals from across town and from the other side of the world. I know that despite our differences- economic, ethnic, religious and yes, political- we must work together as neighbors to ensure Wausau remains a great place to live for our grandchildren and future generations.

Unfortunately, city hall has not always provided governance worthy of the residents. I believe various dysfunctions in city hall have held the community back and threaten our future. Poor oversight, insufficient transparency and a naive faith in “transformative” development projects have bled the coffers and stacked up the debt. I believe we are in need of a city government more committed to providing efficient and robust services to our 40,000 neighbors and less interested in playing kingmaker in the private for-profit business sector. It would be a great honor to serve on city council and I promise to buckle down and help council work better for my neighbors.

What is the biggest concern you have about the way Wausau’s municipal government operates today, and how do you propose to manage that, if elected?

Lukens: So many of the issues Wausau is facing are the same issues that communities throughout the country are facing: aging infrastructure, increased construction (and other) costs, water issues (PFAS, lead service lines), a housing shortage, aging workforce, and an employee shortage, among others. These issues are all complex and create challenges for municipalities and their staff, including Wausau.

A partial solution to the housing shortage, for instance, is to secure additional housing developments as soon as possible. However, the city’s Economic Development (ED) Department hasn’t had the staffing needed to manage phone calls if they’re out of the office. Since phone calls are often the first point of contact, it’s important to have someone there, yet staffing is one of the most expensive costs. At the same time, ED folks need to look at possible housing sites in order to develop more, so during budget discussions, staffing decisions have been extremely tough ones to make because adding staff may raise taxes.

As this example shows, there’s typically more to an issue than may appear from the outside. Therefore, when issues, meetings, or decisions are reported on, the general public may not always have the full perspective regarding the complexities of a situation and that’s through no one’s fault. It’s simply that by the time an issue gets to the common council agenda, it’s often been previously addressed at standing committee meetings and therefore may not be discussed at length again. Moreover, there’s such a myriad of issues and decisions to make that it would take countless hours to re-explain the background of every issue at every meeting and then little would get done. The challenge is that lack of background knowledge on an issue can then lead to misunderstandings about the sincere efforts city staff and elected officials are putting into decisions they make and it’s perhaps one of the most important things I’ve learned during my first term on council.

That said, if re-elected, my goal is to improve resident engagement so as to help increase community input, awareness, and understanding as to issues and decisions that need to be made. The Community and Economic Development staff are in the process right now of holding neighborhood meetings to listen to and engage with residents. It can be extremely difficult to increase resident engagement due to varying means of communication. Residents on social media are easier to reach as are those with email and those who attend neighborhood meetings. Residents, however, that don’t use a computer, aren’t on social media, and/or don’t attend neighborhood meetings are more challenging to contact. I’ve reached out to folks at city hall and, if re-elected, I’d like us to survey all residents to ask where they get their information on city issues and how we can best reach them.

As an educator working with middle and high school students, I regularly discuss with and ask for student input on any city issues I can in order to bring the reality and importance of local government into their lives. Therefore, I’d also like to involve youth as much as possible in our decision-making. Some years ago there used to be a “Mayor’s Youth Action Council.” I would love for the city to resurrect that! Although they may not yet be able to vote, I believe the voices of youth are important because they care very much and our present decisions determine their futures.

Kronenwetter: Too often, senior staff, mayors and private sector partners have driven the policy bus and city council has been comfortable ceding its policy-making responsibilities to other actors. Under the prevailing system in city hall, the residents rarely find out what is happening until it is too late to influence council. We need to stop the tail waging the dog.

I believe alders are responsible for keeping their constituents informed of city developments and also responsible for keeping the mayor and staff informed of their constituents’ priorities. Ultimately, it is the residents of Wausau who have the right to determine our civic priorities, not consultants or private business interests.

Residents are concerned about the city’s debt and financial stability. If elected, what steps would you take to put our city on firmer financial footing?

Lukens: While the first paragraph of my previous answer points to issues that challenge financial stability, we desperately need housing and a thriving downtown. Business leaders and residents alike have been pleading for this. Economic development projects help increase revenue, but with tremendous price inflation in construction, things are different than they used to be. All projects now typically require either some public funding, tax credits, or a mixture of both.

According to the Wausau Metro Area Housing Assessment (2022), census data shows we have a shortage of housing here (both rentals and owner-occupied homes) for low- and high-income earners. Wausau needs an additional 525 units (both low- and high-income housing) by 2025. The shortage of housing for those in higher income brackets has led to them utilizing middle-income housing which then creates an increased shortage of affordable housing. Thus, while some question the need for the more expensive housing projects that have been planned in recent years, the study revealed there truly is a demand for it. With a growing senior population, we also need more ADA-accessible and senior-friendly housing.

In terms of affordable housing, the report indicates that approximately 24% of Wausau households are cost-burdened, which means they’re spending 30 to 50% of their income on housing. Another 9% of households are severely cost-burdened, spending over 50% of their income on housing. This is not sustainable. Yet with the increased construction costs, it’s next to impossible to build housing that these residents can afford without some type of assistance.

To reduce construction costs and increase housing, municipalities are being encouraged to: 1) Amend zoning ordinances; 2) Explore creative financing for new housing development (this includes working with area employers, nonprofits, or state and federal agencies that administer grant programs); 3) Use TIF, bonds, tax credits or other incentives to assist developers with the initial infrastructure costs they must make before generating revenue to build new housing that otherwise would not be feasible; 4) Help residents seek assistance from the 2023 Wisconsin Housing Package loan programs.

The city is already applying some, if not all, of these strategies, but these are steps I would like to see taken to lower debt and increase financial stability. The development of affordable housing leads to more people housed, more stability and money spent in our community, more job opportunities, more money to improve our infrastructure, and a healthier economy overall. In working with developers, I would also like to incentivize the use of local laborers and, particularly, union laborers.

Kronenwetter: We must find savings by an honest and thorough analysis of where we are spending. If elected, I promise to offer concrete proposals to reduce city spending each and every budget cycle. I do not have all of the answers cued up at the moment, but I do have an accounting degree and nearly two decades working on large, highly complex projects in the financial tech and services industry. I have a working knowledge of budgeting, debt instruments, banking systems, and a wide variety of investment vehicles. I cannot guarantee my colleagues will always agree with my proposals, but I will offer concrete alternatives rather than simply criticize spending or borrowing in general terms. It is inappropriate to borrow and spend without serious discussion, but it is also unproductive to simply complain about debt without providing real alternatives.

Some principals that will guide my proposals:

1. I believe we have relied too much on outside counsel, for-profit consultants and I am skeptical of paying private interests to make public policy recommendations. The residents can and should drive policy priorities.
2. I believe Tax Increment Financing has been overused and is a drain on our city and school district finances. We need to be clear, the City of Wausau has put more of our tax base into TIF districts than the vast, vast majority of municipalities. TIF is a fine tool when used appropriately, but It is time for a course correction.
3. I believe the City of Wausau must do a better job of holding our counter-parties to their commitments. I will fight to ensure that private sector partners deliver on their contractual obligations to the city. We do not give homeowners a break on their property taxes when they have a down year. Tax-financed developers should not routinely expect a break on their obligations. I will also oppose efforts to make the taxpayers of Wausau subsidize neighboring municipalities or the county government. I believe there is a lot of untapped potential for mutually beneficial cooperative agreements with our neighbors, but we cannot expect the residents of Wausau to foot the bill.

How do you plan to involve residents in the decision-making process in our community and be transparent in your decision-making?

Lukens: I think citizen engagement is key to transparency. As I noted previously, many issues are often much more complex than what appears from the outside. In fact, perhaps the greatest challenge for me these first two years has been learning and understanding the background of specific issues as it’s extremely important in understanding the considerations required by council members when voting on different matters.

As I also noted above, I plan to first survey residents using various platforms to find out where and how they keep abreast of district and city issues so we can better understand how to gain their input into issues and decision-making. The city has a strategic plan which is an excellent practice; I believe our decisions and budget should align with that plan. However, I’m not sure how familiar residents are with it so I’d like to find out. More resident involvement should lead to more understanding by all and, thus, better decision-making.

Kronenwetter: As discussed above, I will do my best to enforce our council’s rules on agendas, public notice, open meetings and always support my constituents’ right to be heard in city hall. I truly want to be my neighbors’ representative in city hall and encourage them to call or email with their concerns and issues.

As far as keeping my own decision-making transparent, that’s pretty simple. I’m not looking for a seat at the cool kids’ table and the good old boys (or girls) don’t impress me much. I have no interest in partisan political squabbles or building a reputation for further political efforts.

I promise to be honest and straightforward with my neighbors. The work of city council should be largely mundane. Efficient municipal government may not be glamorous, but as a project management professional with an accounting background, it is work I’m well prepared for and I am excited to get to work for my city.

How can Wausau effectively tackle the ongoing housing shortage, particularly for people with low to moderate incomes?

Lukens: I address this in my response to your question above about how to put the city on better financial footing.

Kronenwetter: There are no silver bullets that will fix the lack of affordable housing. Cities large and small are facing similar housing challenges and proper solutions require county, state and federal action. Federal and state programs largely determine policy on things such as rental assistance and tax incentives for affordable housing construction. We can and should make sure that our zoning is updated to reduce barriers to constructing affordable housing.

Further large scale residential developments should not receive taxpayer subsidies unless those developers contribute to addressing the lack of affordable housing. If we cannot afford to promote affordable units, we certainly cannot afford to subsidize high end units.

What can Wausau be doing better to help the homeless population in the city?

Lukens: From having worked with students and other populations who are unhoused and volunteered time at the warming center, this is a complex situation with no easy or immediate answer. The lack of affordable housing is just one aspect, but from what I’ve witnessed, trauma and other issues play a major role in homelessness.

I’m incredibly grateful for the shared revenue funds that enable our Community Outreach Coordinator position and also to the Community Partners Campus for consolidating so many important services under one roof. To make a lasting impact, however, I believe we need a more unified effort that includes the city, multiple nonprofits and other agencies, and the county as well since the challenge is not only to provide housing, but also to keep people housed. The complexity of issues involved in homelessness requires much more staffing including case managers, mental health professionals, and others. I would like to see more collaboration between the city and county on this matter. It’s a community-wide (and nation-wide) issue that requires much more than city hall to solve.

Kronenwetter: Again, this is not something that we can do alone. We need more shelter space, more treatment and general health care capacity, better public transportation in the broader metro area, and unfortunately, many of our policy makers need more compassion and a more realistic attitude toward the homeless. It is (again) becoming popular to simply blame the homeless for their circumstances and promote policies to make their conditions more uncomfortable and more dangerous in the hope that they will migrate away from town.

From more public restrooms, to locker programs, to support for non-profit aid agencies, there is much the city can and should do.

There is also much that the city should not do.

We should not encourage our police to increase the detention and prosecution of our homeless population. Driving the homeless from the places in the city center where they currently congregate, without providing shelter and services, will simply force the homeless into more residential neighborhoods. Arrest and prosecution of the homeless will increase costs for the police department, jail, district attorneys office, courts and city attorney. It will saddle the poorest in our community with inescapable debt and lower the chances they will ever exit homelessness.

Some promoting a law enforcement approach to homelessness claim that a large portion of the homeless are coming from other communities. If true, arrest and prosecution of the homeless will only force them to remain in our community longer even if they wish to move on. It is a counterproductive approach to the perceived problem.

I promise to try and promote realistic policies to assist folks out of homelessness and fight efforts to criminalize extreme poverty and mental illness. We need to calm down and work on real solutions to the real causes of homelessness.

What is the most exciting thing happening in Wausau right now?

Lukens: I’m excited about the number of new small businesses that have recently opened and am looking forward to the construction of both the Foundry on 3rd and Riverview Lofts housing developments! COVID really threw a wrench into so many areas. While I understand the need for downtown businesses to have limited their hours, it’s hard to see little activity on a weekend afternoon. As development gets underway and we get more movement downtown, I’m excited to see activity again!

One other thing I’m looking forward to is the skate park redo. I hear regularly from students that we desperately need more activities for youth and I wholeheartedly agree. All the more reason we need youth voices in local government!

Kronenwetter: The coming public debate on how long to make the bow season for feral cats and migrant hobos.

How do you feel about the transportation options available in our city, and what would you do to tackle the challenges you see?

Lukens: Public transportation is tremendously important for many reasons – the climate/sustainability, an important service for those that can’t drive, and transportation for students who live in the city, among others. I’ve heard from many residents who are not happy that the city transit system does not travel into neighboring municipalities. However, due to formal regulations, it can’t without their permission. I’m excited that the Wausau Metropolitan Planning Organization has created a work group to study transit expansion because we would all benefit from it.

Employers need employees and I work with students who are of employment age but cannot work in neighboring municipalities due to the lack of public transit. A collaboration among area municipalities allowing public transit among and between them would not only benefit employers and employees, but it would help with economic development overall.

In addition to public transportation, I’m excited about the recent approval expanding the River’s Edge Trail into the southwest part of the city and look forward to more opportunities for both walkers and bicyclists.

I currently serve on both the Sustainability Committee and Transit Commission and have long been an advocate for public transit as well as environmental sustainability. Thus, I’d also love to explore additional methods of transportation that will decrease our environmental footprint.

Lastly, I also serve on the Airport Committee and want to give a shout out to the Wausau Downtown Airport for the gem that it is in our community! Many residents may not realize since it’s somewhat tucked away on the Southeast Side, but the Wausau Downtown Airport services many area employers and offers opportunities that positively impact Wausau’s economic development. I hope more residents check out its offerings!

Kronenwetter: Our public transit employees have done a lot with very little support for a long time. This is another area where we need to find partners in surrounding municipalities, private foundations, the county and the state government. As we look to invest in infrastructure for managing our municipal fleets we need to take a broader look at options for transit services and what the future of our transit system should look like. I intend on helping to build bridges and lines of communication with other municipalities’ elected officials to try and develop comprehensive long term strategies to improve public transit.

After multiple rate increases, many residents are concerned about their water and sewer bills. What is the best way to manage this issue, while still providing Wausau with the clean water it needs?

Lukens: I sincerely respect residents’ concerns about the rate increases. This is another issue that, again and unfortunately, other communities in this area (Weston, Rib Mountain, Kronenwetter, Rothschild and Mosinee) and throughout the United States are also experiencing. Aging infrastructure, PFAS mitigations, and staffing are all costly expenses.

While the city is currently in litigation and will hopefully recover costs for PFAS mitigations, no one can predict at this point what that amount will be. I would like to see any settlement received used to ease the burden on ratepayers. Although these rate increases impact all of us, I especially feel for young families that are faced with so many other expenses as well.

Although infrastructure is aging throughout the country and some updates are unavoidable, there are things communities and even residents can do to help lower costs. While researching PFAS two years ago, I learned that it’s in artificial turf and was stunned to learn about turf’s harmful environmental and health effects.

While I understand the arguments of some sports enthusiasts in favor of artificial turf, it is just one example of how we as individuals contribute to the problem by our lifestyle choices (and indirectly to the increase in rates). For example, an average 80,000 square foot artificial turf field needs to be replaced every 7-10 years on average, sending 40,000 pounds of plastic and 400,000 pounds of infill (typically rubber granules from old tires that contain harmful chemicals, including lead) to the landfill each time. The artificial turf business is a lucrative one with more and more fields being implemented each year. If we actually stopped to consider the number of fields (literally thousands) that now exist in the U.S. alone and multiply that by the amount of waste they create, I think we would be stunned. Without any recycling program for it, we are literally littering our landscapes and our lives with it. Yet this is only considering the waste. If we truly stopped to think about the heat effects we’re exposing our children to, would it change our minds? (One example: on a 70 degree day last year on the turf field at Wausau East, the afternoon temperature of the field was 110-115 degrees.)

While technically, synthetic turf fields may be considered permeable surfaces, with compacted soil underneath covered by layers of synthetic materials, many municipalities consider them impermeable. How does this relate to our water bills? During downpours, stormwater runs off impermeable surfaces, is a major cause of water pollution and flooding, and damages property and infrastructure, thus requiring it to be replaced sooner (and raising our rates). Permeable surfaces are therefore preferred because they can better absorb water from heavy rainfalls. So anything that we can do as residents to conserve water (turn it off while brushing our teeth, etc., purchase high-efficiency toilets, use rain barrels for watering outside, avoid using pesticides and chemical fertilizers) and create permeable surfaces on our property will help limit our costs.

Ways in which municipalities can help curb costs include the possible installation of smart metering which allows customers to check their daily water use, seeking any possible financial assistance for infrastructure improvements or maintenance, educating the public about water conservation, and implementing a residential conservation rate which contains rate tiers so that residents using less water are charged a lower rate.

Kronenwetter: First we have to ensure our drinking water is and remains safe. I worry our filtration system is more of a bandaid than permanent solution.

Going forward, we also need to be sure that the PFAS removed from our water is properly disposed of. That is not easy or cheap to do as there is not really a safe way to permanently dispose of PFAS. It would be painfully ironic if the city wound up using our expected windfall from PFAS litigation to pay for damages caused by our own PFAS disposal. I am committed to helping provide oversight of our filtration program so that I can honestly assure my neighbors that our city water is safe and our disposal is not harming others or creating liabilities the ratepayers will eventually pay for.

Long term, there are some promising developments on the first process developed thus far to digest some PFAS into non toxic product. If elected, I will make sure that the water utility is staying up on this developing science so we do not over-invest in soon be obsolete technology.

How will you work to keep tax increases to a minimum while maintaining expected services for residents?

Lukens: In serving on the Finance Committee this term, I’ve witnessed firsthand the process of reviewing budget requests with a fine-toothed comb in efforts to limit tax increases. With increased costs and limited funding, it’s been especially challenging. I’m grateful that Mayor Rosenberg advocated for and the city received shared revenue funds, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to maintain the level of services we’ve been receiving.

I would like to see the city and county partner together more on some issues such as mental health services and homelessness. While economic development projects should help increase revenue, partnering with nonprofits and other organizations could help maintain services while keeping tax increases limited.

Moreover, as in the case of the lead service line replacement program, by proactively drawing resources from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the intent is to train local laborers in needed areas of the trades, thereby increasing their level of income, complete important infrastructure work with the help of government funding, improve public health, and thus improve our overall economy.

Kronenwetter: My earlier answer addresses some of my guiding principals for spending control. Luckily (or unluckily) our subsidies of upscale housing projects, bullet-proof city hall lobbies and unnecessary consultants allow some opportunity to create savings and still have money left over to improve services.

For example, many of my neighbors would like to see a resumption of large item pick up. As I recall, it was a relatively small expense for a service that really assists our elderly neighbors, lower income households and landlords, all while reducing fire hazard. It also has the added benefit of putting downward pressure on the cost of housing by reducing the cost of managing rental units. City hall can learn a lot by substituting the priorities of our neighbors for the advice of for-profit consultants.

Which does the city need more: A city administrator, or a mayor? Why?

Lukens: I think both serve important roles. The mayor is essentially the face of the city – an elected representative and political leader who monitors the activities of the administrator and departments. The city administrator, on the other hand, is responsible for managing and carrying out the policies that the city council and mayor create and maintain. The administrator is hired, not elected.

In a city the size of Wausau, I think an administrator may be helpful in streamlining processes and managing the day-to-day operations, thereby allowing the mayor to more easily carry out his/her responsibilities. This issue has been brought up more than once during meetings in the last couple of years. I would welcome a discussion weighing the pros and cons of hiring a city administrator, but it should be appropriately agendized and time reserved for such a discussion.

Kronenwetter: Our city has an administrator, we call her the mayor. I have a bias in favor of democracy. It may not be a perfect system, but it’s better than the rest. I want to be my neighbors’ representative in city hall. I have no interest in replacing their direct election of our executive with an electoral college of aldermen. As a community we will thrive or founder through our collective efforts, industry and democratic oversight of our elected leaders. There is no college degree to train someone to lead Wausau – it is something we have to figure out together.

What else would you like voters to know about you?

Lukens: Who I am:
-City of Wausau District 1 Alder since April, 2022
-Educator with the Wausau School District where I have been teaching middle and high school students for over 14 years
-At the post-secondary level, I taught U.S. Government, Psychology, and served as a professional tutor at Northcentral Technical College (NTC), Wausau.

My education:
-UW-Stevens Point, Bachelor’s degree in History and Broadfield Social Studies
-Mount St. Joseph University, Master’s degree in the Science of Reading

My experience:
-For 17 years I worked in local law offices as a legal assistant and office
manager before returning to school to pursue the field of education
-In the interim between legal work and teaching:
–I assisted marginalized populations with employment, college, and career
preparation as a case manager at the Job Center of Wisconsin-Marathon
County.
–At ATTIC Correctional Services, I recruited mentors for and assisted formerly incarcerated individuals who were re-entering society
–As an Educational Talent Search Coordinator at NTC Alternative High School, I helped prepare students at all alternative high schools in the NTC system for college and careers

Other service:
-Volunteer for various nonprofit organizations in Wausau, as an America Reads Program tutor, City-County Certified Diversity Circles Facilitator, History/Culture and Immigration Consultant/lecturer, and editor and contributor for D. C. Everest School District oral history projects, particularly those involving the experiences of Hmong and Southeast Asian refugees
-At the state level, I have served as a Marquette University Center for Peacemaking advisory board member and consultant, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice board member, and professional facilitator for Peacemaking & Restorative Justice Circles for School and Community Settings

Perhaps most importantly, I’m also a daughter, mother, grandmother, and companion to five non-humans!

I love serving and would sincerely appreciate the opportunity for another term!

Kronenwetter: For years I have heard a lot of talk from city officials and self appointed “community leaders” about the need to recruit new residents, new workers and new developers to Wausau. These people are often selling subsidies to private interests for “transformative” projects as if Wausau is a place that needs to be reimagined by consultants and needs to be repopulated with the right kind of people. These voices belong to the very people who have largely run the show in city government and set city hall priorities. They have created the budgets which caused our ballooning debt. They have overseen the rising cost of housing. They have ignored the transit workers, the water utility workers and the DPW staff when they raise concerns about staffing and working conditions. They have over-invested in failed private businesses and unrealistic development plans while under-investing in basics like roads and housing that residents can actually afford to live in. They seem to have a belief that Wausau’s future prosperity depends on attracting a cadre of hip millennial entrepreneurs who will invest their millions in Wausau if only we will provide them with upscale condos across the street from our jail.

My neighbors deserve a more serious approach to municipal government.

I am running because I believe our city would benefit from my project management skills, accounting background and familiarity with the history of this city. I think the 40,000 residents of Wausau deserve a government focused on their needs and the needs of their children. I hope to help city council stay focused on keeping their families happy and healthy in Wausau for generations to come.