Dear editor,
The April 2 election day is just around the corner and I wanted to convey to the community my enthusiastic endorsement of Katie Rosenberg for mayor of the city of Wausau. Mayor Rosenberg is the mayor we need moving forward. She is an outstanding leader that has proven the ability to balance the communities needs with fiscal responsibility. This is not an easy task with tight levy limits and myriad of problems facing Wausau.
From the moment I met Mayor Rosenberg I knew she was different than every other mayor I had ever worked under. She was curious, inquisitive and hungry to help solve problems. In my very first meeting with her the first thing she asked is how she could support the mission of the Wausau Fire Department. She became a regular at the fire station, learned the names and lives of the firefighters, and frequently attended training sessions with them to learn the idiosyncrasies of their difficult job. Evidence of her leadership in action is found in the many improvements to the Wausau Fire Department made during her tenure as mayor. Mayor Rosenberg helped me find creative ways to find solutions to problems that loomed over the department for decades.
The biggest of these problems was the staffing shortages that no other mayor had tackled in over 50 years. When I met with Mayor Rosenberg to discuss the growing problem with inadequate staffing of firefighter/paramedics she dove head on into problem-solving and finding ways to fill the critical gaps. She worked diligently to help me make presentations to the (Wausau City) Council and committees to create positions and eventually fully fund those positions. She provided a huge amount of help and support when we wrote the highly competitive FEMA Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant. She gained the support of the governor and several other key decision makers that helped us ultimately be successful in garnering $3.1 million dollars from FEMA to fully fund 9 of the 12 new fire/medic positions for the first three years.
In August of 2022, while hiking in a remote part of Glacier National Park in Montana, I suffered from a massive heart-attack. My wife and several wonderful responders worked hard and saved my life. That afternoon while lying in a hospital bed in Kalispell, Montana, Katie was one of the first that reached out to my wife and helped support her and my family through the ordeal. She quickly rallied with then Deputy Chief Kopp and other leaders to keep Wausau Fire operating without even a hick-up while I recovered. My family and I are forever grateful for her friendship, servant leadership and compassionate care she demonstrated to us through that difficult time.
Katie Rosenberg is the leader that Wausau needs. I am fully confident in her leadership abilities and I trust her to see Wausau through whatever problems come next.
Please vote for Katie Rosenberg for mayor of the city of Wausau on April 2.
Robert Barteck, retired fire chief, City of Wausau Fire Department
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.
