Wausau City Council Takes No Action on Security Items for Dropbox

Thursday, October 10th, 2024 -- 8:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) The Wausau City Council did not consider a proposal to purchase a new front-door security camera for city hall and floodlight for the city’s dropbox.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, Alders failed to suspend their rules regarding committee consideration for the item. Such suspension requires a 2/3rds majority vote, which never came.

None of the alders made a motion on that item, preventing the council from voting on the suspension, and in turn the proposal itself. The item was a late addition to Tuesday’s meeting.

The agenda originally called for discussion and possible action regarding use of the Dropbox. The agenda was amended on Monday. Speaking after the meeting, Diny said he feels there was “corruption” or “collusion” among the alders.

“I did expect a more robust discussion among Alders. Quite frankly, they were discussing behind the scenes. As evidence shows, not one decided to offer a motion or a second."

"That indicates to me there was some collusion behind closed doors, and I would call it corruption. I know over half of them had discussed their opinions with the Clerk."

“They want to be able to put their foot on the scale with the Clerk, but they didn’t want to be able to do that in public. They were able to do it privately, but they didn’t do it publicly,” added Diny.

As for bringing the proposal back to the Alders through traditional channels including the Finance Committee, Diny says they could still order and install the items through procurement, given the $3,000 price tag, but he will leave that decision up to Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde.

“I’ll leave that up to the Clerk. I mean, it is kind of ironic- that I would be in charge of security, when they [the Council] just told me they didn’t want security,” added Diny.

Council President Lisa Rasmussen also noted that procurement policy. In a statement emailed to WSAU News following the meeting, she said Diny could have secured those items weeks ago and noted that his decision to put the purchase on Monday’s agenda felt like a stunt.

Monday’s meeting brought more than 20 individuals for public comment, most regarding the ballot dropbox, and dozens of protesters outside City Hall. Diny said that given the amount of interest, he would have liked to have seen a vote.

“It looked like the majority [was in favor] of the dropbox, or at least the security upgrades. I would say they whiffed on it. We could have taken a vote,” added Diny.

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