Wausau council approves emergency-shelter contract with Bridge Street Mission amid nondiscrimination debate

The Wausau Common Council voted 8-3 on July 8 to approve a joint finance and public health-and-safety resolution authorizing a contract with Bridge Street Mission to provide emergency night shelter services for the city.

The vote follows weeks of outreach, two RFP cycles and a joint committee review; council members and public commenters pressed for clearer nondiscrimination language, limits on religious activity, and shorter contract terms before the approval.

The contract approved by the council includes a nondiscrimination clause that, according to a council summary read into the record, requires the provider to “provide emergency night shelter services under this contract on a nondiscriminatory basis regardless of faith, gender, [or] lifestyle” and states that “no beneficiary of service under this contract shall be required to participate in any explicitly religious activity.” The resolution (file 25-0704) passed finance and public health-and-safety earlier in the day by 4-1 votes.

Public commenters urged caution. Jay Kronenwetter, an attorney and Wausau resident, criticized the contract draft’s employee protections and said the Mission’s publicly stated hiring practices could leave staff without federal civil-rights remedies. “I don’t think anyone who respects workers’ rights or labor in general should…