Wausau committees vote to enter closed session to discuss purchase of riverfront parcels amid contamination concerns

The City of Wausau Finance Committee and Economic Development Committee voted to go into closed session Tuesday to discuss negotiating purchase of parcels identified in meeting materials as 201 North First Avenue (later described as a scrivener’s error) and 901 and 1021 Cherry Street.

Committee members and staff cited results from previously commissioned Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments in their public discussion. Carol (last name not specified), a staff member, told the committees that one rationale for a closed session was that “open meeting laws restrict reasons that we can go into closed session, but one of those exemptions is for deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of property.” She explained that discussing negotiation strategy in open session could undercut the city’s bargaining position.

The committees’…