METRO BRiEFS

Homelessness solutions

A new social worker position to work with the homeless received its fi rst approval amidst more details around the downtown situation

A new social worker position that would work with some of the city’s homeless population, meant to replace the offi cer position in the same role, received the fi rst steps in its approval process.

Th e city’s Human Resources Committee Monday approved the position, which would be housed under the police department but would be a non-offi cer position. Th e city’s Finance Committee and city council will still need to approve the position, which will likely be funded through American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

But Monday’s meeting also revealed more details about the situation downtown. Wausau Police Chief Ben Bliven highlighted the number of police hours being dedicated to the downtown on incidents relating to homeless individuals. In April 2021, offi cers spent 37 hours on such incidents; those numbers increased to the 50-60 hour range in the months of February, March and April.

Ald. Tom Kilian requested the number of incidents in those months.

Bliven told stories about uncooperative homeless individuals in the Th ird Street Lifestyle building, and about patrons witnessing fi ghts in the library. While the library makes eff orts to be inclusive of everyone, including the homeless, people are starting to become afraid to come to the library because of violent incidents that have occurred there, the chief says. Similar comments have been made about downtown.

Kilian argued that a human services department might be in order — that all of these issues the city is dealing with might be best addressed through a department designed to handle them.

Bliven agreed more needs to be done around issues such as homelessness, and mental health and addiction issues, but for now this step makes sense.

Starbucks in Plover votes to unionize

Employees at a Starbucks in Plover became the second store in Wisconsin to vote for unionization.

Th e Chicago & Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United announced the results of the vote last week. Th e union announced in February that the Plover store was seeking to unionize its non-management workers, following a similar move by workers at the Oak Creek Starbucks in the Milwaukee area.

Th e 7-5 vote is still under review by the National Labor Relations Board. Plover is the second store to vote for unionization but more votes are expected in other Wisconsin stores such as Madison.

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Mall $1 parking ramps deal stirs controversy

A portion of the newly amended agreement with Wausau Opportunity Zone that deals with parking ramps sparked some new controversy.

Th e city council passed an amended version of the agreement Tuesday. But a provision that had already existed in previous versions of the agreement — that WOZ be entitled to the two mall parking ramps for $1 should the city abandon them — drew some fresh criticism.

Ald. Lou Larson attempted to amend the agreement so that if WOZ wanted to purchase them, it would need to pay fair market value for the ramps. Th at amendment failed, with only Larson and Ald. Tom Kilian voting in favor.

City Finance Director Maryanne Groat told the council that it would be diffi cult to assess a fair market value of the ramps, since any would-be developer would need to tear down the ramps. Appleton recently tore down a parking ramp and it cost in excess of $2 million, Groat told the council.

WOZ Secretary Joe Mella told the council that if WOZ were to take advantage of the deal off ered in the agreement, it would likely use the ramps for any projects that might pop up on the mall property. If highdensity housing was built, for instance, the ramps would be valuable as parking for those tenants.

Kilian questioned the assessment of the ramps having no fair market value in that light.

In other council action, the city council approved amending the Riverlife Condos agreement to give the developers more time to build. Delays from supply chains and worker shortages have slowed the project.

And the city approved a one-year contract with FlashVote to conduct surveys for the city. It’s meant as a more eff ective means of gathering citizen input.

Schofi eld Alder announces run for 85th

A city of Schofi eld city council member has announced her intention to run for the 85th District State Assembly seat.

Kristin Conway announced last week she would run as a Democrat for the seat currently occupied by Pat Snyder (R—Schofi eld).

“I don’t believe that the majority of voters in Central Wisconsin are on board with the extreme right cultural agenda of the current leadership,” Conway said in her announcement on her campaign Facebook page. “Central Wisconsinites care about clean water, abortion access, and ensuring that our children are protected and nurtured, not targeted and marginalized.”

Besides serving on the Schofi eld City Council, Conway has spent a career working at non-profi ts and still works as a social media manager for several local and national non-profi ts. She currently works at the Mount Sinai Congregation.

Snyder last month announced his intention to run for his seat again. No other Democrat challenger has announced so far, and no primary challenger to Snyder.

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Kronenwetter holds closed session on administrator performance

The village of Kronenwetter Village Board met for roughly an hour in closed session to discuss the performance of the village administrator, leaving confusing in its wake.

The board discussed Administrator Richard Downey’s past performance reviews, Village Board President Chris Voll told City Pages. The main prompt of the meeting was to get new board members up to speed on those past reviews.

Voll told City Pages that it was standard procedure for the board, though it’s not something other boards or councils typically do.

No other meetings were scheduled on the topic, Voll confirmed, but it’s likely there will be more meetings around the topic in the future.

Downey did not return requests for comment. The news comes as a number of employees have left the village recently.

Shoe company expanding in Merrill

Weinbrenner Shoe Company plans to expand to an abandoned alfalfa plant site, thanks to half a million in state and local incentives.

Weinbrenner plans to expand its operations into the 14.2-acre site, which had once been the home of Hurd Window and Doors until 2008. The site had partially housed an alfalfa storage facility before the Merrill Area Development Committee bought the site in order to redevelop it. The expansion, which is expected to bring in at least 50 new jobs, was made possible in part by a $250,000 Idle Sites Redevelopment Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., and another $300,000 in incentives from the city of Merrill, according to a WEDC press release.

The site will add on to Weinbrenner’s existing operations about a mile away. The company will renovate the two buildings on the site, one 142,000 square feet and the other 17,000 square feet, into offices, a break room, additional production lines and storage.

Weinbrenner was founded in 1892 in Milwaukee but moved to Marshfield and Merrill in the 1930s. The company has been employee-owned since 2000.

Wausau police save life of suicidal juvenile

A Wausau police officer prevented the suicide of a juvenile last week, according to the department’s Facebook post.

A friend of the juvenile (the police left out any identifying details to protect the identity of the child) alerted officers that the person had told them he or she would take his or her own life. At the same time, a patrol lieutenant saw someone standing on the roof of one of the city’s parking ramps and alerted officers.

According to the post, Officer Josiah Kaetterhenry was able to approach the juvenile without alerting them and was able to prevent them from jumping.

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