Marathon County board approves series of rezones, library appointments and $760,541 highway budget amendment

The Marathon County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 21 voted to approve a set of town rezones and appointments, adopted recognition resolutions for veterans and crash responders, and amended the county highway budget by $760,541.

The board, meeting in the Marathon County Courthouse Assembly Room in Wausau, handled a long consent and ordinance slate with largely unanimous votes. The meeting included one substantive exchange about the county’s role in town zoning and one contested vote on the highway budget amendment that was not unanimous.

The rezone and ordinance items the board approved include town-level rezones submitted to the county for final approval: Ordinance 046-25 (Town of Knowlton), Ordinance 047-25 and 048-25 (Town of McMillan) and Ordinance 049-25 (towns of Brighton, O’Plain Hall and Marathon). Several of those passed by voice roll call and were recorded as carried unanimously.

Supervisor Eric Hoppa asked for clarification on a rezone in the Town of Texas during discussion of Resolution 608-25 and related town items. Shad Harvey, Marathon County zoning director, explained that the town of Texas is town-zoned (not county-zoned), that the town held the public hearing and that the county’s role at the board level is to record the town’s rezone forward for final approval. Harvey said, “The town of Texas is not county zoned. So this is a rezone process that they’ve…