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ATV open for business

After months of work, the county passed an ordinance that allows ATVs and UTVs on county roads

After months of hashing and rehashing,

and two long committee meetings last week to nail down the details, a new ordinance that would allow all-terrain vehicles on county roads has been approved.

The ordinance, which allows ATVs and UTVs on county roads with daily traffic under 1,500 vehicles outside or the metro area, brought concerns from a mixed coalition of critics including the Sheriff and the county board chair. The ordinance brought concerns about safety and local control, since the ordinance as written would open up roads in municipalities even if those municipalities kept their own town roads closed to ATVS.

That changed Tuesday with an amendment by County Board Chair Kurt Gibbs, who stepped down from his chair role temporarily in order to introduce the amendment. Under Gibbs’ amendment, roads would only open in villages and townships that already had their roads opened to ATVs. The amendment also introduced speed limit laws in anticipation of state bills recently introduced that create separate speed limits for ATVs.

Proponents of the ordinance said allowing ATVs and UTVs on county roads helps open up routes because Marathon County doesn’t have much in the way of ATV trails like other counties north of here. It would allow people in rural areas to use the county roads to help get around, as many use ATVs for transportation.

Marathon County Sheriff Scott Parks said he had a number of concerns about the ordinance. Having separate speed limits for ATVs isn’t currently enforceable under state law, meaning drivers of those vehicles would be legally allowed to drive 55 miles per hour (though many such vehicles aren’t capable of those speeds). The ordinance allows usage of those roads from 5 am to 10 pm, different from the current one hour before sunrise and after sunset. And, Parks said he’s worried about the staff needed to maintain all the extra vehicle traffic when county deputies are already strained.

The new ordinance came after several meetings that included contentious debate regarding local control and safety. Supervisor Chris Dickinson shared data showing ATV use on roads is relatively safe. He argued at committee that the county had purview over its roads but later agreed the amendment was a good one.

New state bills, which include Sen. Jerry Piotrowski among their supporters, would add the ability of separate speed limits for ATVs. That comes as numerous counties have opened up county roads to ATV use, particularly in the north.

United to cut Wausau service to Chicago

United Airlines last week announced the closure of several regional routes — and CWA is among them.

The airline informed Central Wisconsin Airport staff last week that it would be cutting its flights from CWA to Chicago, a major loss for the airport. Airport Manager Brian Grefe called it “terrible news” but says the change could also be an opportunity to attract other low-cost airlines to the airport.

The closure is one of 14 planned by United. The service will continue through the holidays and the last day of service will be Jan. 3, Grefe told City Pages.

Of the 14, seven of the closures involved Chicago, the airport most affected.

Though a blow for the airport, Grefe was optimistic about the future: “Making American Airlines and Delta Airlines healthy will provide us with a much greater argument to add an additional destination,” Grefe told City Pages. “Also, with the potential lack of competition and strong demand in our market, we will be more attractive to a low-cost carrier. I plan on exploring all opportunities in the next few weeks and months.”

Pedestrian bridge draws controversy

A plan to seek a $10 million grant for a pedestrian bridge that’s part of the mall redevelopment project has drawn some pushback as some council members wonder what could have been done with that money instead.

Wausau Opportunity Zone Project Manager Chuck Ghidorzi told a city committee last week that WOZ in concert with the city’s community development office was seeking a $10 million state grant to help fund a pedestrian bridge that would traverse from the former JC Penney site to the south riverfront. The bridge was included in WOZ’s initial vision for the redevelopment of the mall site, which was demolished earlier this year.

The funding being sought is part of the Neighborhood Investment Fund Program. The program, administered by the Department of Administration, funnels American Rescue Program Funds to communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The program is intended for increasing child care, affordable housing or public improvements.

Committee Member Tom Kilian criticized the application, saying the city had greater needs in the child care and housing arena than a windy bridge. And Council Member Deb Ryan criticized the lack of transparency on the council, saying her constituents were angered by the application.

But Council Member Lisa Rasmussen said that was a misunderstanding: If a grant has no local match, staff members apply for grants on their own all the time, and the council steps in when it is time to accept the grant.

Community Development Director Liz Brodek pointed out that while child care is a passion of hers (something she told City Pages in an interview when she was hired), one of the requirements is that a project submitted needed to be shovel ready — in other words, a project already set to be underway. The pedestrian bridge fit the bill.

Kilian told City Pages he spoke with the DOA and is sending a formal letter of concern over the project.

Riverlife project could be on hold as developer switches to mall project

A project approved earlier this year for Riverlife could be put on hold in favor of the developer starting the first project in the mall redevelopment plan.

Wausau Opportunity Zone Project Manager Chuck Ghidorzi told the city’s Economic Development Committee last week that talks are underway to get T. Wall Enterprises to stall work on its Riverlife project, a mix of commercial and residential property, in favor of building the first project on block four of the mall development.

Ghidorzi told the committee the project would be 132 market rate apartment units and 21,000 square feet of retail space.

The original timeline for the project was that it would begin in 2024; but with the change, the new start date would be later next year. Ghidorzi told the committee that getting the area pad ready went faster than expected.

But some Economic Development Committee members expressed concern that they were being told about this before they had a chance to weigh in. T.Wall was selected for the project earlier this year over other developers for Riverlife, and the agreement had a specific timeframe in which to complete the project. Committee members said they didn’t feel the committee had an adequate chance to weigh in.

“There needs to be a much greater distinction between private sector and government when we’re talking about private-public partnerships,” Committee Member Tom Kilian said. “It’s not a choose your own adventure; that it goes through committee and is approved, that it goes through council and is approved, that audibles aren’t being called in closed-door sessions the committee and body are not involved in.”

Community Development Director Liz Brodek says the new agreements are being worked out and that the new Riverlife agreement would still come before the Economic Development Committee.

City consultant launches webpage for strategic plan

Consultant BerryDunn has launched a new website aimed at garnering feedback for Wausau’s strategic plan.

Developing a strategic plan was one of the core platforms of current Mayor Katie Rosenberg’s campaign challenging thenincumbent Mayor Robert Mielke. Though central to her platform, the strategic plan took a backseat as dealing with COVID-19 took center stage for most municipalities.

Gathering feedback from the community is the second of three stages in the plan, according to BerryDunn. The website https://berrydunn.mysocialpinpoint.com/ wausauwi/wausau/ allows residents to fill out a survey on their views on what Wausau’s future vision should be; There is also an idea wall and an opened ended forum. There will be two virtual meetings at the end of the month and an in-person meeting on Dec. 2 at the City Council chambers.

Jail staff could soon join deputies using body cams

Marathon County Sheriff’s Office deputies have been wearing body cameras since February, and starting next month its jail staff will be one of the first in the state to do so.

Marathon County is spending $163,000 per year with a company that provides the cameras and video storage, says Chief Deputy Chad Billeb. The service also will provide the videos in whatever format is the most current should the department end its contract with the company.

And, starting next month, the jail staff will begin wearing the cameras as well. Billeb says Marathon County will have one of the few jails in the state with the cameras, but that they believe it will be more common in the near future.

The footage is invaluable for prosecutors and police, District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon says, but also poses a challenge in terms of staffing and records management. Marathon County Criminal Justice officials are looking into more efficient management systems to keep tabs on all of the video and other types of evidence now collected as part of investigations.

One issue people might not think about: every video entered into evidence must also be transcribed. Defense attorneys will be transcribing them, Wetzsteon says, and so prosecutors will need to as well so officers can see them prior to testifying. And that’s time-consuming. In a recent trial, one video of an interview was seven hours long; that would take much longer than that to transcribe.

Billeb says there is software being developed that can automatically transcribe videos and even translate them into other languages, but it’s something the county would need to look into.

Billeb says the funding for the camera systems was secured through cost-savings at the Sheriff’s office and so didn’t cost extra taxpayer dollars.

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