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Committee advances revised Marathon County assemblies ordinance, raises trigger to 5,000 attendees
Summary
The committee voted to forward a revised draft of Marathon County’s assemblies ordinance to the full county board with changes recommended by the Environmental Resources Committee and Infrastructure Committee, including increasing the event-size threshold from 3,000 to 5,000 and removing prescriptive parking language.
The Marathon County Public Safety Committee on Jan. 14 voted to refer a revised draft of the county’s assemblies ordinance (Section 12.04) to the full county board, accepting amendments recommended by the Environmental Resources Committee and the Infrastructure Committee. The motion to forward the ordinance with those committee changes was moved by Jason, seconded by Al, and passed by voice vote.
County staff member Chad said the revision process followed a work group created to address constitutional concerns with the prior ordinance language. Staff said the draft reflects outreach over the past 18 months to event organizers and municipalities — including the Steam Show, Balloon Fest and Dairy Breakfast — and that the primary edits being forwarded are raising the attendee threshold that would trigger the ordinance from 3,000 to 5,000 and removing detailed, prescriptive parking requirements from the ordinance text.
Committee members asked about jurisdictional reach. Staff clarified that the county ordinance affects towns; villages may adopt their own event ordinances and set different thresholds. Committee member Tim said he would not support the ordinance because he viewed it as an infringement on First Amendment assembly rights. Staff and members noted that ERC and Infrastructure moved the revised language forward and that the 5,000 threshold aligns with the mass-casualty planning threshold used by Wisconsin Emergency Management, as part of the rationale for the change.
The committee recorded a motion to forward the draft with ERC/Infrastructure changes to the county board; the motion passed by voice vote. The county board will consider the ordinance in a future meeting.
