Wausau City Hall. MWC file photo.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wausau’s Liberation and Freedom Committee is hoping to be more active in the public in 2022.
Committee Chair Tom Kilian briefed his colleagues on the Council about the goals on Tuesday, saying some of their priorities include helping refugees that are being resettled in the area and helping everyone in the community stay informed by breaking down language barriers.
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Kilian says it’s not just cultural boundaries they want to help lower. The group has also mentioned reaching out to Veterans communities to help those that have served re-enter into the private sector.
He sees some of those items possibly going to one of the city’s standing committees for discussion and eventual consideration by the full council if appropriate.
Others on the committee have previously suggested making meeting materials or summaries of key discussions in other languages to help understand what’s going on no matter their proficiency, or lack thereof, with English.
In addition to all of those items the committee also wants to be better engaged with the public either through hosting events of their own outside City Hall or by making themselves available at outside events when called upon. Alder Lisa Rasmussen said she approves of that idea. “When we have public engagement meetings or public information sessions we may have a few people, but you never really have a robust enough crowd to gauge what a large number of people want to see. And I think whenever we have tried to conduct focus groups or gather input it’s better to go where people are versus bringing them here (to City Hall,)” said Rasmussen.
The committee was previously known as the Mayor’s Welcoming and Inclusivity Committee and was founded under former Mayor Robert Mielke.
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