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Wausau council appoints Aaron Greiner to fill District 5 seat after two ballots
Summary
After interviewing three candidates and conducting two rounds of secret ballots, the Wausau Common Council appointed Aaron Greiner to serve the remainder of the District 5 aldermanic term. Council rejected a request to play a city-produced candidate video and adopted a successive-elimination voting procedure before tallying ballots.
The Wausau Common Council on Oct. 28 appointed Aaron Greiner to fill the vacant District 5 aldermanic seat, swearing him in to serve through April 21, 2026.
Council members interviewed three applicants — Aaron Greiner, James Wodinsky and Steven Schmidt — after hearing public comments from residents who asked the council to consider the preference of District 5 neighbors. The council first voted 9-1 to adopt a successive-elimination voting procedure that would drop the lowest vote-getter and revote among the remaining candidates. Members also voted against allowing a city-produced candidate video, the motion to permit the video failing 1-9.
Greiner, a small-business owner and longtime community volunteer, introduced himself to the council and said he had reviewed the statutes and meeting materials to prepare for the role. After the initial secret ballot, the results were James Wodinsky 5, Aaron Greiner 3 and Steven Schmidt 2. Council members eliminated the lowest vote-getter and held a head-to-head revote. In the second round Greiner received 6 votes to Wodinsky's 4; the clerk announced Greiner's appointment and administered the oath of office at the meeting.
Council members debated only the mechanics of the selection process in public: Alder Rasmussen cited a 2020 precedent in which city-owned materials were used in a political context and argued that a city-produced video could create the appearance of an unfair advantage. Several alderpersons favored narrowing to two candidates after the first ballot rather than repeated open-ended voting.
The appointment followed the council's public protocol: the council took District 5 public comment before hearing candidate introductions, then handled general public comment after the seat was filled. The clerk tallied ballots in public and reported the two-round results to the chamber.
The council did not record a formal motion naming a specific mover for the appointment; the outcome was determined by the secret-ballot tallies. The clerk recorded the vote totals for each round and announced Greiner as the appointee. The appointment carries until the end of the term on April 21, 2026.
