Marathon County Courthouse. MWC file photo.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — A much-debated Marathon County resolution is finally making its way to the full board.
Thursday evening Marathon County’s Executive Committee heard over an hour and a half of public comment on the “A Community for All” resolution put forward by the Diversity Affairs Commission. Of the 39 people that spoke on the resolution during public comment, those in favor narrowly edged out those against the resolution 21 to 17.
Due to the closely divided nature of the resolution once the discussion began between committee members an amendment to the resolution was posed by District 13 Supervisor Matt Bootz. Bootz motioned that the committee should take up the B version of the resolution as opposed to either version A or version A/B for three reasons.
“Number one, it gives supervisors a base to start discussion at the full board level. To be honest, either way, one of these documents are going to be brought forward to the full board no matter what is decided here today. So we need a starting document and I feel Version B has the most consensus at this point.
“Number two, it gives people who want to see equity in the document the chance to talk or possibly amend without reworking an entire document. I think it’s always been a better practice when taking a document to the full board to add verbiage to a document at the meeting as opposed to eliminating things from a document. And number three, it gets this document in front of the full board, yes the full board, for a final vote.”
After introducing the motion to send Version B of the resolution to the full board, District 19 Supervisor and Diversity Affairs Commission Chair Yee Leng Xiong explained to the board why they had received three versions of the resolution in their packet. Version A and Version B had been brought before the Commission at their July meet. And members of the Commission agreed that they liked language from both versions of the resolution and combined them into Version A/B that was recommended to the Executive Committee.
RELATED: Another Revised “Community for All” Resolution Heading for Marathon County Executive Committee
The main change between the two versions of the resolution was the exclusion of the word equity, along with its definition for the County, and footnotes of resources and studies consulted to write Version A/B. Much of the opposition to the resolution had mentioned dislike of the term equity and instead preferred the word equality, which was included in Version B of the resolution.
While some supervisors felt Version B of the resolution was enough of a compromise to pass, a couple of supervisors felt the divisiveness of the resolution was too much to pass in any form. District 18 Supervisor and Vice-Chair Craig McEwan says other diversity measures at the county level have had full support in the past without causing such intense conflict.
“If you review any of our hiring processes we do not discriminate against anyone. We do have diversity in our core values which states that we will ‘actively be welcoming, and valuing people with different perspectives and experiences.’ We have it in our comp plan under 3.8 stating ‘to ensure Marathon County is an open and inclusive and diverse place to live and work.’
“All of those items that I just discussed were voted 38-0. Those were things that we could get behind. It didn’t cause the type of division that this resolution and previous resolutions have caused. And like I said, as a Marathon County Supervisor I will always support equal opportunities for everyone as it states in our core values and comp plan. I cannot support any resolution that promotes division in our County. And nobody can deny that this has divided our County.”
One of the supervisors that did feel the resolution was enough of a compromise to have a full discussion next week was District 4 Supervisor John Robinson, who has been a vocal supporter of the resolution since its first iteration. “I’m really torn because personally, I’m very supportive of A/B. I intend to support resolution B because I am also among other things is a political realist.
“And I realize that we have division in this community. And I think that the art of politics is defining things to your advantage. The art of governance is trying to bring people together and do what’s possible. While I have a preference toward one, I intend to try to advance the county board the one that I hope will bring us together. My fear is that we did pass it with a 20 to 18 vote, that doesn’t show a community for all nor broad support.”
After 40 minutes of discussion on the resolution, Committee members passed Version B of the resolution to be sent onto the full County Board for discussion next week. The amendment to adopt version B of the “A Community for All” resolution passed on a 5-4 vote, while the final vote in favor of the amended resolution was passed 6-3. District 11 Supervisor Alison Leahy did not vote for the amendment to Version B but supported the resolution in its final vote.
The full Marathon County Board is expected to take up Version B of the “A Community for All” Resolution at its next educational meeting on Thursday, August 19th.
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