Town of Rib Mountain. Image courtesy: WAOW TV.
RIB MOUNTAIN, WI (WSAU) — A local municipality could look to change its legal status in the near future.
At the biweekly Rib Mountain Town Board meeting on Tuesday night, board supervisors heard from Town Administrator Gaylene Rhoden about the pros and cons of incorporation. Currently, Rib Mountain is an unincorporated town with some of its community affairs governed by Marathon County.
Incorporated municipalities retain more control over their community government and can then contract the county for any services needed. Town Administrator Gaylene Rhoden says the Town Board wanted to look at incorporation during their 2020 strategic planning process.
“They just kind of wanted to look at it a little bit further. Understanding the pros and cons of it and having that open discussion about like what does that mean. So I as staff had to do some research and pull out like okay well this is the pros, this could be the cons. It’s allowing us to get feedback on that information.”
During the meeting Tuesday night, board supervisors asked some questions addressed to Rhoden regarding the pros and cons. Specifically looking at items that could affect the town’s budget like potential annexations, long-term borrowing, and potential law enforcement requirements.
Members of the board were in favor of discussing the process of incorporation more in-depth with an incorporation consultant familiar with the area. Bill Forrest was the Village Administrator for the Village of Weston when they incorporated from the Town of Weston in 1996.
Forrest now runs a consulting firm helping local municipalities figure out different aspects of incorporation. The Town Board directed town staff on Tuesday evening to reach out to Forrest to schedule a special virtual meeting with him to ask more questions about the process of incorporation.
The full memo regarding the pros and cons of Rib Mountain incorporating and a flowchart of the incorporation process can be found on the Town of Rib Mountains website in the meeting packet.
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