Becky McElhaney
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau City Council has re-elected Becky McElhaney as President for the 2022-2024 term.
The District 6 Alder received 7 votes to 3 for Michael Martens during Tuesday’s organizational meeting. Alder Lou Larson nominated her, saying she has done a “superb” job as President in the last two years.
The council also considered rule changes for the new term including a proposal from the new District 4 Alder Doug Diny that would have required each of the council’s standing committees to have a different chairperson. Diny said the proposal was aimed at spreading out the responsibility among Alders in the name of diversity of thought and cultivating leadership. “We have [Alders] that are qualified and maybe this will force the issue to get a diversity of leadership, diversity of thought,” said Diny.
Lou Larson and Tom Kilian supported the measure. “There’s no reason why one person should have the burden [of leadership] of two or three committees,” said Larson.
But Alder Lisa Rasmussen said doing so could create a situation where a committee has their Chair chosen before their first meeting if members have already been selected to lead other committees. “I think the committee needs to have all choices available. You can’t slam the door on half of the committee’s choices before they’ve even met.
Rasmussen noted that previous city rules had the Mayor assigning Chairperson duties with each new council. That practice was discontinued because some felt that gave the Mayor too much power.
“The committee has to be allowed to have all of its options open,” added Rasmussen.
The motion failed with just four yes votes.
The council also voted Sarah Watson onto the city’s Plan Commission, and Dawn Herbst was named the council’s representative to the Water Works Commission.
Comments