WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau City Council voted 8-3 to approve a future Committee of the Whole meeting on homelessness in the city.
But before that vote they spent more than an hour hearing a presentation on the issue from Wausau Police Chief Ben Bliven, hearing input from a handful of residents on the issue, and finally discussing the idea among themselves. While everyone on the council agreed that something needs to be done, not everyone was supportive of the idea of taking time to meet together to discuss it.
Alder Lisa Rasmussen said if the city gets involved, there is a risk of redundancy. “Creating a city department at a substantial taxpayer expense is likely redundant with the work that the county social services department already does. They have a committee for it and they have agencies for it. All we need to do is partner with those agencies. All of it can be achieved without creating another level of bureaucracy, that’s all it really is.”
Rasmussen also noted that the Public Health and Safety committee currently has a standing agenda item devoted to updates on the issue.
But Alder Gary Gisselman said the item should be about educating themselves and the community on what needs to be done. “I’m not sure what will happen [at the meeting] but at least we will have the opportunity to hear from providers [regarding] the state of homelessness in this community. [We do this] so the council can be completely informed with high hopes of helping the homeless.”
The discussion also featured fireworks as Council President Becky McElhaney took her peers to task over infighting and finger-pointing that occurred during last month’s cold snap.
“I don’t like the way this council speaks to each other,” said McElhaney. “I have council members calling me [asking] ‘why is there such finger-pointing and nasty posts on social media from council members?’ As council President, shame,” she said. “Everybody cares. I’m very tired of it. And I think the Mayor can back me up on how tired I was over this period.”
McElhaney added that she supports the idea of having an informational meeting in a Committee of the Whole setting, but notes that everyone should temper their expectations because there’s only so much the city can do. Rasmussen also reminded everyone that a Committee of the Whole can’t spend money or make any formal decisions, all they can do is pass ideas on to standing committees who would then consider passing them on to other committees or the Council.
The proposal, brought forward by Gisselman and Alder Tom Kilian, calls for a future discussion on what the city and county have already done on the issue and what more could be done. Some said they would like to extend an invitation to Marathon County Administrator Lance Leonhard. Others thought that new NCHC Executive Director Gary Olsen should be invited because of the agency’s role in mental health treatment for residents.
Alders Sarah Watson, Dawn Herbst, and Rasmussen all voted no. Before calling for the vote, Mayor Katie Rosenberg thanked the council for the discussion saying many alders left themselves “very vulnerable” with their input.
No date for the meeting was immediately set.
