Wausau Alders Recommend Continued Legal Guidance for “Un-Elected Staff” as Complaint Against Mayor Moves Forward

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025 -- 8:01 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) After a closed-session Committee of the Whole meeting, Alders on the Wausau City Council have voted to recommend continued legal representation and guidance for non-elected employees involved in the citizen complaint filed against Mayor Doug Diny.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, the move came Monday evening following a closed-session discussion involving all 11 alders. The motion recommends the “continued engagement of CVMIC-appointed legal counsel to represent the city and unelected city staff in the matter currently pending before the city’s Ethics Board, up to a limit of $10,000.”

Alders then unanimously moved the item forward. It will be considered at a future City Council Meeting. Since Monday’s meeting was a Committee of the Whole, no formal decision or action could be approved.

CVMIC stands for Cities and Villages Mutual Insurance Company. The matter before the Ethics Board is a citizen’s complaint against Mayor Doug Diny regarding his handling of a locked, unsecured municipal dropbox left outside City Hall over a weekend in late September.

City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde had intended to have the box installed and opened to receive completed absentee ballots ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election. Diny said he moved the box into his office for safekeeping, noting that anyone could have walked off with it at the time.

Opponents of the move believe he broke election laws and cite a State Supreme Court decision that gave local clerks the authority to implement ballot drop boxes at their discretion.

Alders spent the bulk of Monday’s committee meeting in closed session. Only the motion to go into closed session and vote to move the matter to the next available City Council meeting was taken in open session.

The Ethics Board investigation into the complaint has been stalled for weeks as the Board considers digging for additional witness statements. City Attorney Anne Jacobson has suggested there may be as many as five additional people who could be interviewed for the investigation.

Additionally, both Jacboson and City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde have been unable to provide much information to the Board, citing the ongoing investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice into the matter.

The Board was scheduled to hold a hearing on the matter at the end of April, but canceled it at the last minute. At the time, the Board said they would consider holding a meeting in late May to reassess the situation, but that meeting has yet to be scheduled.

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