City of Wausau. MWC file graphic
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Tonight the Wausau City Council holds its only lame-duck session. Voters have already picked a new mayor and have chosen some new council members. They have not yet taken their seats.
The right thing for the council to do tonight is this: Take no official action. Gavel in and gavel out.
Everything on the agenda should wait until Doug Diny, the new mayor, takes office. Instead, last Friday afternoon, Mayor Katie Rosenberg posted a full agenda for the last council session that she will preside over. The agenda is full of items that voters rejected on Election Day, and makes it more difficult for the incoming mayor to govern.
The mayor will re-appoint 21 people to current committees and commissions. All of them will serve into the new mayor’s term. That’s inappropriate; Doug Diny, not Katie Rosenberg, is the person voters have picked to shape city policy. The new mayor should ask for the resignations of every appointee, allowing him to decide who, if any, he might re-appoint.
The outgoing mayor also is putting before the council a sweeping reorganization of the management of city parks. Wausau and Marathon County already have a merged parks department. The new agreement will have the city paying more, and will give the county more control over park management.
The mayor also proposes adding three new positions to city government. One is an additional EMT for the fire department and two additional police officers to deal with the city’s homeless population. These are worthy goals. But the funding comes from temporary federal grants. The city will have to pick up the full cost of salary and benefits in three years. Not only does this hamstring the new mayor into higher spending, it’s an issue that Katie Rosenberg campaigned on… and the voters were not persuaded.
None of these issues are so urgent that they can’t be delayed for two weeks. Then the new mayor, who ran on a platform of fiscal restraint and responsibility, will be in office.
The right thing for the city council to do is to take no official action tonight, to thank the outgoing mayor for her service, and to send her on her way.
Chris Conley
Comments