By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review
A request to remove Wausau’s Park and Recreation Committee and officially transfer park system management to Marathon County will not be decided this week, after several alders voiced concerns over the scope and timing of the proposal.
More than 50 pages devoted to the proposed change were released shortly before 5 p.m. as a public packet, barely adhering to the state’s Open Meetings laws that require a 24-hour notice, not including weekends. The Parks committee was set to meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, with a City Council decision on the matter set for one day later.
Dist. 1 Alder Carol Lukens was the first to formally object to the timing of the request and asked that the matter be postponed until May to allow all council members have an opportunity to discuss its implications.
Parks Director Jamie Polley initially pushed back on Lukens’ request and asked that the current council should be the group voting on the measure, not the newly elected members who will soon be sworn in. The April 9 meeting of the council will be the last under the current administration. Mayor-elect Doug Diny and the newly elected council will be seated on the third Tuesday in April.
But Lukens renewed her request and recalled that the issued were only discussed at a Parks committee and at a council meeting early in her first term, in June 2023. Lukens said if she did not have the appropriate background, the public may not, either.
“If this has been adequately discussed for four years, then why was this not placed on an earlier P&R agenda?” Lukens wrote. “I was surprised to see it listed on both agendas only days before the meetings. If it appears that we are pushing things through before new members are sworn in, what message does that send to residents?”
Dist. 3 Alder Tom Kilian also stated his concerns about the agenda item and lack of time for public engagement.
“This agenda and packet came out at 4:42pm on a Friday for a Monday meeting,” Kilian said. “It is requesting that the City Parks & Recreation Committee eliminate the City’s Parks & Recreation Committee, although no regular resident or citizen could ever possibly be aware of this request due to the manner and language in which these items are agendized. Bizarrely, there is apparently just one sentence that begins on page 2 of the packet PDF that explicitly explains this.”
“There is absolutely zero awareness among the public or our constituencies that this important, highly controversial item is being taken up today, given the lamentable and inappropriate timing of the agenda/packet release, the agenda language, among other things. In addition to zero awareness, there has been no meaningful public input or public participation process related to this highly important item, which violates the spirit and letter of existing key City resolutions and plans,” Kilian added.
Wausau currently spends $3.5 million on parks and funds 21 of 44 (48%) positions in the joint city county parks department. The equalized value of the City of Wausau is about $4 billion, and Marathon County is $14.5 billion. That means that the citizens of Wausau pay 27% of the county’s bills. Together, Wausau residents will be called upon to fund 62% new county parks entity.
Despite footing the majority of the bill, the county parks entity is only marginally accountable to Wausau taxpayers. The Marathon County Parks Commission, which consists of seven members, includes three members of the City Council. All members are appointed by the county administrator, which means the county will decide who represents city taxpayers in this governance structure.
City staffing costs for running the parks have risen sharply in the last two years. Actual staff costs in 2022 were $2,057,144. The approved budget for personal services in 2024 is $2,461,262. That represents a 20% increase in compensation costs over two years with no increase in positions.
Polley said the Parks Commission is aware of the effort. Wausau Pilot reached out to all current Commission members for their reaction but none responded by press time.
Mayor Katie Rosenberg said she approved the agenda as written.
“Additionally, I just want to say that I don’t know that you are being asked to ‘cede’ power to the county,” Rosenberg wrote. “Based on the reading, the city did that decades ago already. This is asking to clarify what that means. We first found this issue during the pandemic because the county was operating slightly differently from the city and we needed to figure out what to do. That level of clarity will help in the future.”
Marathon County Administrator Lance Leonhard said in an email to Wausau Pilot that the proposal merely restates the historical expectations and current practice for how the Department has been operating based on the numerous resolutions previously adopted by the Wausau City Council and the Marathon County Board of Supervisors
“From my perspective, the document does not have any new or different features from how the Parks, Recreation & Forestry Department, or the Parks Commission, has operated,” Leonhard said. “It is simply meant to clarify operational expectations and operations as a benefit for policy makers (e.g., members of the Park Commission, the County Board of Supervisors, and the City Council). Ultimately, from my perspective whether adopted or not, this agreement will not impact how the department operates or the work that is performed for the City of Wausau or Marathon County. Similarly, it does not in any way impact the decision-making authority of either the County Board or City Council.”
Late Monday morning, city officials announced the meeting would be canceled and the matter will be taken up by the new council, once the group is sworn in.
