Marathon County pledges up to $200,000 for Wausau night shelter; county-city RFP issued with March 28 deadline

Marathon County has agreed to partner with the City of Wausau on night-shelter services by authorizing up to $200,000 for 2025, Wausau Police Chief Barnes told the Public Health and Safety Committee on March 17. The county indicated it would consider continued support through its regular 2026 budget process.

Chief Barnes said he participated in meetings with the county administrator and other partners while representing the city’s priorities for the request for proposals (RFP). The RFP was published with proposals due March 28 and a public opening scheduled at the Board of Public Works on April 2. A small evaluation team made up of county and city employees will review submissions, compare finances and make recommendations as appropriate; Barnes said he did not expect the awarding of funding to require additional council action, although county decisions rest with the county administrator and the county’s internal process.

Barnes said he met with people who have experienced homelessness to ask what would make a shelter effective; common themes included clearer expectations for participation in services, better accountability, and separate or safer options for women. He said some respondents told him that if time-limited, accountable shelter options had been available earlier, they might have exited homelessness sooner.

Alder McElhinney and other committee members described work to educate county supervisors about the timeline and data behind the local homeless-response work; committee members said the county vote to authorize the funds had strong support.

Community outreach staff reported continued activity. Tracy, the city’s outreach coordinator, said the Community On Call program activated 11 days in February and that an off-site location sheltered 148 individuals during those activations. Tracy described collaboration with NCAP, the Salvation Army and other partners that resulted in housing six people so far in March and recounted one case in which she secured housing for a person with stage-4 cancer within a week.

Chief Barnes and outreach staff announced a public screening of the documentary Americans with No Address co-sponsored by CPC, Bridge Street Mission and the Wausau Police Department. The screening is planned for March 25 at the Grama Theatre and committee members were encouraged to attend. Staff said they would post a nonacting agenda for the event so the public could attend without it constituting government action.

Committee members placed the RFP update and the outreach report on file and directed staff to continue coordinating across county and city teams as proposals come in.