Wausau board approves minutes with corrections, votes unanimously to enter closed session on complaint against Mayor Doug Denny

A Wausau municipal board meeting on Oct. 15, 2025, voted unanimously to convene a closed session to deliberate a pending complaint against Mayor Doug Denny and approved a package of 10 sets of minutes from 2025 with two corrections.

The board — identified in the transcript only as a Wausau municipal board — conducted the meeting in a hybrid format, with Mayor Doug Denny present in person and outside counsel Eric Larson attending by Teams. The meeting began at about 3:33 p.m. and opened with routine minutes review before moving to the complaint item.

Board members discussed minor corrections to the draft minutes. One correction specified that text in the July 29, 2025, minutes should read “prehearing” rather than “pretrial.” The other correction noted the misspelling of an individual named Jesse in the Sept. 12, 2025, minutes. The board clarified that the agenda item included 10 sets of minutes prepared for approval and that minutes from a separate hearing were not yet ready for approval.

After those clarifications, a motion to approve the 10 sets of minutes with the two corrections was moved and seconded; the motion was adopted by voice vote. The chair announced, “It passes unanimously.” The minutes approval was recorded as approved with the stated corrections.

Later in the meeting the chair read an agenda item describing the status of the proceedings in the matter of a pending complaint against Mayor Doug Denny. The transcript states that a hearing was conducted on Oct. 10, 2025, with testimony from several city officials, exhibits described as “a couple dozen” and that the board met in closed session for deliberations following that hearing. Board counsel Eric Larson subsequently prepared a written draft decision "consistent with the board member's closed session comments," the chair said.

The chair read the closed-session notice aloud, citing Wisconsin Statutes Section 19.85(1)(a) to deliberate concerning a quasi-judicial hearing and Section 19.85(1)(g) to confer with legal counsel regarding litigation strategy. A motion to convene in closed session was moved and seconded, and the clerk called the roll. The roll-call responses recorded in the transcript were: Dexter — yes; Hosler — yes; DeVos — yes; Kearns — yes. The chair stated that the motion passed unanimously and that the meeting would adjourn open session and convene in closed session to review the draft decision prepared by counsel; the board indicated an intent to resume in open session afterward.

No substantive details of the complaint, the exhibits, witness testimony or the draft decision were discussed in open session; the board moved those matters to the closed session as authorized under the cited state statutes.

The meeting record also contains a brief exchange clarifying the number of minute sets included on the agenda (10) and noting that minutes from a hearing were not yet prepared and therefore were excluded from the approval vote.