Wausau council authorizes continued legal representation for employee witnesses in ethics matter

The Wausau City Council on an unspecified date voted 10-0 to authorize continued representation by Attorney Hall for city employees who have been subpoenaed as witnesses in an ongoing ethics matter and to permit the city to receive subpoenas for those employees through the conclusion of the matter.

Councilmember Rasmussen moved to "authorize representation continued representation with attorney Hall for employees and receipt of subpoenas employee witnesses through the conclusion of the matter." The motion received a second and passed on a roll-call vote recorded as 10-0.

Councilmember Veil said the action was not taken lightly. "This is not something that we are happy to do. It's not something we see as ideal. We know some are gonna see it as totally not ideal. In this matter, you know, I'm sure the mayor and and his legal representation are are gonna follow every route they can to see this through with due process, you know, to the best of their ability. The other side of that coin is is not, the council," Veil continued, adding that employees pulled into the matter "also are do that earn the right to due process in this. They were sort of pulled into it. They have not entered into it voluntarily. And, as they are now part of this due process, and they may have concerns about their security, and and self self protection, if you will, that, we as a body need to provide staff, these witnesses with the benefit of representation to get them through this process."

Councilmember Alda Killian said she was voting for the measure despite reservations: "Based on on our closed session, which I can't go into all the details, of course, I'm I feel as though we are in a position where we need to support additional funds for the employees. However, I'm uncomfortable with some of the things that were presented to me and some of the criteria under which we have to do this. And I I am going to vote for it because I feel like we we've been put in that position, but I just wanna state that I'm very uncomfortable with some of the things that were presented. Thank you." Killian also said she could not discuss details disclosed in closed session.

A council member noted a previously recorded ethics-board meeting video was available for review and mentioned hearing statements from Dexter and an attorney in that recording. One speaker expressed a hope the ethics board would act quickly to resolve the matter, saying, "I hope this process is done in a week. I hope it's done in 10 days. I'll make a public, you know, request to the ethics board to get it done." No timeline or dollar amount for the authorized representation or any additional funds was specified during the public portion of the record.

The roll call recorded the following votes: Lukens — aye; Martins — aye; Gillian — aye; Neil — aye; McElhaney — aye; Rasmussen — aye; Watson — aye; Larson — aye; Pankey — aye. The motion passed 10 to 0. The council then moved to adjourn.