Wausau City Hall. MWC file photo.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The new Wausau City Council has been seated for the 2026-’28 term with a new president, but no new standing committee assignments.
Alders selected Terry Kilian as the new President over Michael Martens in a 6-5 vote. She says the position has two major responsibilities. “The first is to be the Chair of a Committee of the Whole. The second is to stand in if the Mayor is unable to carry out certain responsibilities.
Kilian is the first Council President in several years not named Lisa Rasmussen or Becky McElhaney. Rasmuseen lost her re-election bid, and McElhaney opted not to run for another term.
Alders did not receive standing committee assignments. Opting for more information on Mayor Doug Diny’s plan to consolidate the six committees to four, a plan that he says would eliminate redundancies and increase efficiency.
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Diny’s proposal would combine the duties of the Finance Committee and Human Resources Committee into the new Finance and Administration Committee, “Responsible for budget development, financial policies, personnel matters, labor negotiations, contracts, benefits, and general administrative operations,” according to a news release.
The Parks and Recreation Committee would also merge with the Facilities and Infrastructure Committee, creating the Infrastructure, Facilities & Parks Committee, “Responsible for streets, roads, utilities, public buildings, capital improvement projects, parks, trails, recreation programs, and maintenance of the City’s physical assets.”
The Economic Development and Public Health and Safety Committees would remain largely unchanged. The Executive Committee, which hasn’t met in two years, would be eliminated.
Alder Matt Hoenecke said the idea is worth exploring if the right steps are taken. “Something of this nature, of this magnitude, deserves time for consideration. Personally, I don’t feel comfortable adopting the committees as-is until I can properly weigh the option between six [committees] or four.”
Hoenecke said he has spoken to some department heads who think the move would be beneficial. He also said he feels that if the council were to move forward with appointments to the six current committees, they would become complacent. “We will find an excuse to just take it as it goes. We will have the meetings set up, and we will go through them. We won’t have the option to or the necessity to revisit this.”
Alder Lou Larson said he doesn’t think change like this is something you can make without vetting. “I really need to see more data on this before we jump into changing from six [committees] to four. I think we would have to research all the information before we head into this.”
Larson suggested moving any potential change off by six months to a year, adding that there are new faces on the Council who don’t know what the committee process is like.
The proposal is expected to be brought back to the next regular council meeting, scheduled for April 28th.
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