Wausau City Newsletter
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Hopefully this is the last time for awhile that I’ll be writing about Wausau’s former Katie Rosenberg.
The City of Wausau’s newsletter arrived in my mailbox last week. Mayor Katie’s farewell to the city took up the entire front page. She writes that she’s particularly proud of staffing increases for the fire department. The argument was that calls for service are up, and staffing hasn’t kept pace. I’m not so sure. Unless there are multiple calls coming in at the same time, isn’t current staffing adequate? Even in the case of multiple fire alarms, Wausau has multiple fire stations and mutual aid agreements with surrounding communities. Mayor Rosenberg campaigned on public safety staffing; the voters still chose the other guy.
The ex-mayor’s closing valentine says that tough decisions needed to be made about drinking water and lead service lines, and that she did the right thing. She leaves out that she did everything the most expensive way. She closes by saying that she hands the city over to new leadership in good shape. That’s not quite true. She leaves behind a mountain of debt, $269-million, that hamstrings the city’s new leader. A staggering amount of money has been spent. New leaders have to say ‘no’ to things the public may want but the city can’t afford.
The final city newsletter is a fitting close to Katie Rosenberg’s mayorship. It arrived in my mailbox 23 days after the spring election, and 9 days after the new mayor was sworn-in. Why does Katie Rosenberg think she’s entitled to a taxpayer-funded farewell message to city residents? Shouldn’t the new mayor have gotten that space to introduce himself and discuss his priorities to the community? The final newsletter from Katie Rosenberg is another waste of taxpayer money. At least she’s consistent.
Chris Conley
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