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Wausau to retool online application for boards and commissions; staff to clean up inactive committees
Summary
Council members discussed improving the city's online application for appointments and reappointments to boards, committees and commissions — including optional resume or certification uploads and checkboxes for qualification criteria — and asked staff to update inactive listings on the city's website.
The Wausau Common Council discussed options to improve the online appointment and reappointment process for boards, committees and commissions, focusing on making qualifications clearer and allowing applicants to upload resumes or certifications.
Staff said the online system currently includes a free-file upload box where applicants may attach documents and suggested adding checkboxes that list required or preferred qualifications for specific committees (for example, an architect for the historic preservation-type committee or a hotel operator for the room tax advisory body). A staff explanation in the record summarized the option: "...put that list of all the potential requirements on those committees and then you could check which ones you would fulfill." The council favored retooling the application rather than adding mandatory new paperwork; the goal is to gather sufficient information without making the form cumbersome.
Council members also discussed allowing appointees to appear before the body at the discretion of the mayor; alderpersons agreed invitations to speak would be appropriate but that the mayor typically decides whether an appointee is asked to address the council. Alder Kelly recalled a prior appointment where an in-person introduction changed the council's view of a candidate and urged the practice as valuable.
Staff noted several inactive task forces and committees (for example, the dog park committee, policing task force, solar array task force and safe elections task force) and said staff will update the application and the website to reflect active bodies and correct membership descriptions that are created by ordinance. Council members asked staff to return with a revised electronic application and an updated list of active committees for future consideration; no formal vote was taken on the application changes at this meeting.
Next steps: Staff will retool the online application to include optional uploads and qualification checkboxes, remove or mark inactive advisory bodies on the city's website, and return with a revised application for council review.
