Wausau City Hall. MWC file photo.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — A severed tourism relationship in Central Wisconsin may be on the mend.
In September of 2020, the City of Wausau terminated its contract with the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) because of a material breach.
The breach of the contract wasn’t specified but likely connects to a July 2020 incident when former CVB Executive Director Richard Barrett was accused of improperly collecting room tax money from the online travel site Expedia. Barrett retired from his position with the CVB in early March of 2021.
Since that decision, city leaders like Mayor Katie Rosenberg have been working with other local municipalities to figure out a viable regional tourism group option. A result of those conversations is a Memorandum of Understanding with the CVB.
Acting Room Tax Commission Chair Lisa Rasmussen explains what the Memorandum of Understanding does for the City. “That really just sets the stage for negotiations to begin between the CVB and the City of Wausau and our neighboring partners to establish some new contracts, drafts of which are not yet available,”.
Rasmussen emphasizes that there is no binding legal agreement at this time between the City and the CVB. “This is not a draft contract. The City isn’t bound by it yet. But this does then allow some negotiation to begin for the terms of a contract.
“The draft contract will come back to this Commission and the Finance Committee and proceed to Common Council. None of this is final but it will at least set the stage for some negotiations between municipalities and their legal teams and the CVB,”.
The Room Tax Commission unanimously approved the Memorandum of Understanding with the CVB.
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