Marshfield Common Council Approves Several Budget Resolutions

Wednesday, October 9th, 2024 -- 9:01 AM

The Marshfield Common Council approved several budget resolutions at their meeting on Tuesday.

The Council approved reallocating $12,500 from the Wenzel Family Plaza restroom project to the Braem Park pickleball project. As that project is under review, the Council decided to use the funds for the pickleball project. They had received those funds from a grant provided by Wood County, which allowed them to be reallocated for the pickleball project.

The Council also approved the purchase of taxi vehicles. The vehicles are owned by the city and leased by the contractor. In all, they’ll be receiving 3 vehicles for 2024 due to catching up with supply chain issues and the others involved in accidents.

The Council also approved pay scale changes they had budgeted for contingency. They initially had $70,500 in contingency for non-represented employee pay scale increases, but increased that to $76,280, as well as $5,247 for communications, and $5,883 in internal service fund.

The Council approved transferring TIF District #5 Affordable Housing Extension increment, coming to $430,761.13 to the Housing Fund and approved a budget resolution to replace the Street Division roof.

The Council also approved the continuing appropriations for the next budget and transferring $12,000 for consulting services for implementation of the West Second Street Redevelopment Plan.

The Council also approved the State/Municipal Agreement for reconstruction of South Vine Avenue from East 14th Street to East 4th Street and authorizing the Mayor to sign it on behalf of the City.

The City also approved the 2025 contract for the shared-ride taxi service and approved a $30,000 contribution to Marshfield Area Pickleball Group for the purchase and installation of lights at the new pickleball courts at Braem Park.

The Council also approved to replace former alderman Ed Wagner on the City’s Collective Bargaining Team and Housing Committee with Alderman Varsho and Alderman Feirer respectively. The Council also approved Mike Meyers to the Historic Preservation Commission, filling an unexpired term ending April 2025.

The Council also discussed the appointment of Rita Meier to the Plan Commission, filling an unexpired term ending in April 2026. No action was taken on that item and will be discussed at the next Council Meeting.

During the Staff Updates portion of the meeting, it was reported that the Adler Trail project has received $175,499 from a grant, $25,000 from the Marshfield Friends of the Trail, and $44,217 from a private donation. With previous funds acquired, this project is now fully funded.

During the Mayor’s Comments, she read three proclamations including Public Power Week (October 6-12), White Cane Awareness (October 15), and Firm of the Year, Hotel Marshfield. She also mentioned the in-person absentee ballot voting hours and that the 14th Street project is now completed and is open.

When approving the minutes from the various committee meetings the past couple weeks, the Council also approved:

• The Adopt-A-Parking Lot program,
• Approved the purchase of a tandem axle truck for the Streets Department,
• Approved the purchase of a paint truck for the Streets Department,
• Authorized RFP for design engineering services for reconstruction of South Vine Avenue from East 4th Street to East 2nd Street,
• Authorized RFP for design engineering services for reconstruction of East 4th Street from South Maple Avenue to South Peach Avenue,
• Authorizing the urban forestry grant,
• Approved the revised policy of Procurement of Goods and Services,
• And approved 2025 budget requests under Fund 205 (economic development).

The Council also heard a report on the 2024 Central Wisconsin State Fair by Dale Christensen, the CWSF Executive Director. While final numbers were not available, he did provide some other information. They had 62,000 visitors attend the fair, which is up a bit over last year. For the junior fair, they had 1,090 exhibitors with 363 entries in the fair.

For the open fair, they had 525 exhibitors with 2,751 exhibits, which are all up over last year. They had $23,600 in premium cost to exhibitors. They had a 2.5% increase in revenue for food vendors. They also had a change in vendor contracts, which seemed to improve some past discontent vendors had.

They also had a 2% increase in carnival gross and they signed a new 3-year contract with that carnival. They had a budget of $300,030 for entertainment. All the entertainment acts did well, and made money, with the exception of the demo derby.

All bills are paid and there’s money still left in the checking account. He also mentioned they’re working on a new expo building and other buildings, so they’re rolling out a building fund campaign with dinner and a show on November 30th. He also mentioned some changes to their Fairest of the Fair competition, 

The Council also heard an update on the Marshfield Clinic Health System, Inc. from Bob Chaloner, President of the Health System. He mentioned the merger with Sanford Health System. They hope to close the deal by the end of this year and the merger begins at the beginning of next year.

There are no plans on changes regarding employees and the financial turnaround continues after the last couple of years. They have a $100,000,000 turnaround from last year to this year. They almost broke even.

They’re looking to grow and become more available to the community as well as improve patient experience and growing medical staff. Marshfield will be the main hub for the region. There will be no downgrading, just upgrading.

The Council also heard a review on the progress of the City’s 2022-2024 Strategic Plan and discussed plans for the development of a new strategic plan. No action was taken. During the City Administrator’s Update, he mentioned budget meetings and other meetings happening over the next couple months.

During the Council Comments, an alderman mentioned the first budget meeting next week. During the Committee Comments, an alderman mentioned a recent successful health fair held.

Finally, during the Public Comments period of the meeting, several residents spoke in support of the pickleball courts and providing funding for finishing the lights at the court. Another resident discussed a recent council discussion on economic development.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.