Wausau City Council Votes to Override Mayor’s Veto of Additional Funding for Attorney Services

Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 -- 8:00 AM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) The Wausau City Council voted to override Mayor Doug Diny’s veto of additional funding for attorney services for employees who may become involved in the open ethics investigation against him.

According to Mike Leischner with WSAU, Diny told the Council he didn’t like the secret nature of the Attorney, saying the public and some staffers were not aware of him until the Council held a Committee of the Whole to discuss funding his services beyond what the city’s insurance company has already paid.

“When taxpayer-funded legal work is hidden from the Council and the public, it undermines transparency and public trust. We were told that Mr. Hall (the Attorney) was brought in because the city faced an imminent legal threat. If that’s true, why wasn’t the full council informed? Why wasn’t the Mayor informed? And why was the public completely unaware that a secret attorney had been hired?”

Mayor Diny made his statement after stepping down as Chair of the meeting, passing the gavel to Council President Lisa Rasmussen. She later defended the move, saying Hall has been with the city in an advisory role, making himself available for guidance and advice and not officially representing any one employee or official.

“There has been zero personal representation by Attorney Hall. There has been procedural guidance to make sure that the city’s response to events at hand was appropriate and that we were not digging a deeper hole than what we already had to contend with. That’s where his guidance stopped,” said Rasmussen.

She also noted that Hall has institutional knowledge of the matter. He was assigned to the case by the city’s municipal insurer, CIVMIC (Cities and Villages Municipal Insurance Company), shortly after the incident blew up last fall.

CIVMIC paid the first $5,000 worth of legal fees, and later upped that to $10,000 given the circumstances. Once that mark was reached, the payments stopped and responsibility shifted to the City.

Alders met in closed session to discuss the situation earlier this month and recommended retaining his services with another $10,000 cap. Payments beyond that would require additional council action.

Alder Sarah Watson said his guidance would be especially valuable for anyone who may be called to testify in a potential ethics hearing but isn’t familiar with the procedure.

“I see this more as continuing that service, making sure our assets, anyone that could potentially have to testify, gets that guidance. Personally, I would be a little freaked [out] about a deposition. I’ve never done one before. I would like to have a real-life attorney making sure that I’m not doing something that isn’t appropriate.”

The vote passed 9-2, with Alders Terry Kilian and Vicki Tierney voting no. Eight yes votes were required to pass the override. Of course, the matter before the ethics board involves a citizen’s complaint against Mayor Diny for his handling of a locked, unsecured municipal dropbox that was left outside City Hall over a weekend in September 2024.

City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde had intended to have the box secured and opened to collect completed absentee ballots ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election. Diny brought the box into his office, citing security concerns, leading to a back-and-forth between him and the Clerk.

The box was later returned to Bernarde, secured, and opened for use. Supporters of the Mayor note that anyone could have walked off with the box. Opponents believe he violated election laws.

The matter is the subject of an open investigation through the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the results of which are pending. The city’s Ethics Board scheduled a hearing on the matter for late April, but postponed it for up to four months.

No further action has been taken since then.

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