Wausau City Hall. MWC file photo
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — City leaders in Wausau have approved a significant tightening of security, a move that the city’s Police Chief says is long overdue.
“We can’t go a day in this country without seeing a shooting in a building,” Chief Ben Bliven told the City Council on Tuesday. “We need to do this. It is an emergency, and it is a priority.”
Plans include a secure entrance in the lobby which would put access to the elevators, stairs, and basement level behind a transparent glass partition wall with a guarded entry. The municipal clerk’s office will be relocated to the present Birch Room with a bullet-resistant aperture into the lobby, and all glass will be bullet-resistant.
Mayor Katie Rosenberg said she’s had numerous incidents when someone had to be arrested in her office for unruly behavior, meaning the issue was deeply personal for her. “They were threatening. They just had to be flat-out arrested because we don’t know what the heck is going on.”
Rosenberg added there have also been times when she’s been working from City Hall on the weekends, when the building is closed, only to find people have stayed the night or are wandering in the building. In one incident as many as 16 people were seen on security footage leaving the building on a Saturday morning.
“How the hell did someone get in this building? I just froze, called the police [and said] ‘once again there’s someone in here that shouldn’t be. We are supposed to be closed.’ It’s not safe, I’ve had nightmares,” added Rosenberg.
Alder Lisa Rasmussen said she knows the optics of making City Hall more difficult for taxpayers to access isn’t great, but today’s world necessitates such action. “People’s actions have caused this, either here or elsewhere. We are living in a society now where we have to admit that not everyone who comes to City Hall is happy about things, and they don’t always leave happy about things.”
“I would hate to see the City Council, yet again, fail to fund a project like this and there be tragedy in this building that will impact this community for decades,” added Bliven.
The project will cost an estimated $180,000. No timeline for when the improvements will be made has been given.
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