My answers to forum questions March 7 - County Board

 

1. The local news has presented a controversial societal issue (banning of certain library books), and

claimed that Marathon County Supervisors made budgetary decisions based upon this issue. We

understand that societal issues are the domain of the state legislature and not that of the Marathon

County Board. Please discuss how you would address citizens who feel that county board members

should consider societal issues when faced with making a decision such as library funding decisions

made by the County Board.

Elected officials are people, and people have core beliefs and a moral compass of some kind. This was all understood with the founding of the State of Wisconsin, and applies to elected positions, juries, etc. I would not believe anyone who says that their personal morals, world view, etc, does not influence how they vote on certain issues. Societal issues almost always boil down to a conflict of ideologies, ethics and morals. If you don't vote your conscience, you can bet your opponent is voting his.

No elected official should ever be expected to vote for anything that they believe in their heart is detrimental to society.

2. Please address how you would address a budget request that involved substantial increased spending,

given that funds are limited, when the decision needs to be made to reduce funding to promote fiscal

responsibility. What items would you consider looking at, and how you would justify your proposal

when faced with public disagreement?

There is a priority of necessity of County services. Road and bridge maintenance, County dispatch, and the Sheriff Department would likely be at the top, then go down the list into the other services. I can't itemize details here, because the question is too broad.

It will boil down to the fact that everyone can't have everything they want, so it amounts to getting the most benefit for the people of the County as a whole, in return for the money spent. That decision should be made on the facts of the matter, not on the demands of special interests.

3. In the event that a conflict arises where a County Board Supervisor must decide to support their full-

time employer OR the Village you were elected to serve, how would you assure the residents that your

decisions will be based upon your elected position representing a portion of the Kronenwetter residents

and not upon your source of full-time employment? Convince the residents that there is not a conflict

of interest. Or, express your opinion on how other candidates might have a conflict of interest that

makes you a better candidate to serve as a County Board Member.

I know there seems to be a huge conflict of interest issue with that, in the 15^th District, and on a general hypothetical level, I think the voters should give serious consideration to possible conflicts.

As for myself, I have had no conflicts of interest at the village board level, and don't anticipate any at the County level. My interest has always been in favor of the taxpayer and rights of the people who elected me, and that would never be in conflict with a supervisor's duties. That keeps it simple and focused.

4. Attendance records for meetings are available for elected officials. Please present your views on

attendance and missed meetings, and explain to the residents why someone with a poor record of

attendance should or should not be considered for election.

No one would hire someone, knowing that they may or may not show up for work. So why would anyone vote for someone who may not be on the job to represent them?

5. Please explain your thoughts on how you would represent Kronenwetter residents and the issues they

would like to see addressed at the county level. How would you encourage policies that assist

Kronenwetter, versus other municipalities such as Wausau?

Unlike some others who seem to equate the County's interests exclusively with Wausau's interest, I think there is plenty of benefit to be had by working with municipalities outside of Wausau, and giving them a fair shake toward prosperity and economic development. Unfortunately, Wausau seems to be the gorilla in the room grabbing all the bananas.

I will support items that benefit Wausau if they also benefit the County as a whole, but I won't support Wausau's interest at the expense of other areas of the County.

6. The Marathon County library, Wausau location, its building and building services, such as air handling

and heat systems, are funded through Marathon County. The other branch libraries are funded by their

municipalities. Please explain why this is the case, how this is equitable to the other municipalities, and

if this arrangement should be modified. Please address this with relationship to the budgetary decisions

at the Marathon County Board level.

I do not have all the details on this, but if all else is equal, it sounds like a double standard, with Wausau getting an unfair advantage.

7. The Village of Kronenwetter recently asked Marathon County to support the concept of the Kowalski

Road Interchange as a future project. No funding was requested from Marathon County—simply

support for the concept of the Kowalski Road Interchange. What would you position be on this request?

The Kowalski Road Interchange would have been an obvious boon to Kronenwetter and this entire area of the county. Here, you have an example of the gorilla in the room literally saying Wausau should get the development, not Kronenwetter (or anyone else), even though the County as a whole would have benefited from the interchange.

The incumbent (my opponent) in District 14 voted against Kronenwetter and with Wausau on that issue. I would definitely have supported Kronenwetter and the county on that one.

8. Historically, there have been many instances of people in positions of power, gaining power and

fame, by appointing people to committees based upon the understanding that they ‘owe’ that person

who appointed them. Sadly, those appointees are then expected to promote the ideas that the person

of power deems important.

Should you be appointed to a committee by someone of power, who expects you to vote on issues in

the manner they determine, please explain how you can possibly promote the people of Kronenwetter

and their needs? Given that Kronenwetter has 3 board members, and Wausau has many more, due to

population size, how can you assure us that you will work to better things for Kronenwetter, and not be

swayed by the opinions of others who hold power?

To me, your question describes flat-out corruption of the representative form of government. I believe that we have something like that in Kronenwetter at the moment, only in a reverse scenario. For the first time in Kronenwetter's history, after the 2023 election, President Chris Voll, and his running mates on the board barred me from being on any standing committee at all, in apparent retaliation for running against him for president.

So I have a bit of experience with unethical government. The result of Voll's committee choices was inferior leadership at the committee level, and many items being sent back to committees by the village board due to incomplete or unsound recommendations.

I am not a “joiner” of groups or factions, and if elected, I will owe my vote to the people of my district and the County, and to no one else.

9. Marathon County does not have the statutory right to make certain decisions. Among those decisions

include, which library books to ban, whether to ban/allow abortion, or to make policies on issues such as

LBGT rights, and bathroom policy. These decisions are NOT in the purview of the Marathon County

Board. Instead, policies that address these issues are the purview of the State of Wisconsin. Because of

this, the Marathon County Board members DO NOT address such issues in their professional status as a

supervisor. Instead, should they have opinions about such matters, they must be reserved for their

personal time.

Knowing this, please explain why the MC board had a Diversity Affairs Committee dealing with issues

that the Community For All supports?? Please explain how this came to be, and if you, as a candidate for

Marathon County Supervisor position, agree or disagree with social issues being addressed at the board

level. Lastly, how would you handle a request from a resident asking you to support societal issues at

the county board level.

Your question already has its own answer – certain issues are addressed at the State level, and that's that. Don't come looking to the County Board for special treatment.

It appears that certain groups or individuals are not interested in equal rights, but special rights, and they are not looking for social unity when they are constantly promoting divisiveness by demanding attention, and emphasizing differences. “Diversity” seems to only be a virtue if your diverseness agrees with theirs. Hypocritical ideologies, wherever they come from, do not have my respect or support.

10. Recently, citizens of Kronenwetter, presented a petition regarding the safety of the intersections

near X, XX and Pine Road. Since X and XX these are Marathon County roads, two of our Marathon

County Board supervisors attended the CLIPP committee meeting where the citizen’s concerns were

addressed.

They assured the committee and the citizens that Marathon County was dedicated to addressing the

citizens’ concerns. They presented that Marathon County would be funding a study of the area to

determine the severity of the problem. Please elaborate on whether you would support investigation

into the safety of the intersection at X, XX and Pine Road, and what you would recommend, as a

Marathon County supervisor, that the county propose to the safety issues at this intersection.

Depending on the crash statistics, a preliminary study or evaluation should have been done already, perhaps even annually, by the County departments to determine a risk level or to prioritize whether or not a larger study is needed.

I would be surprised if the accident data is not already programmed into models to tell us where this intersection stands, safety-wise, in relation to others in the county. If it really is a hot spot, then solutions would be needed. So yes, it sounds like someone should be looking into this.

The solution might be relatively simple. Flashing lights and rumble strips, for example.

11. During last years’ budget process, it was discovered that the Marathon County Library, Wausau, had

almost a million dollars in a saving account. Given that information, it appeared as if the library was

requesting budget amounts that were in excess of their needs. This money was appropriated through

the budget requests and hence provided by the taxpayers.

Given that this large amount of money had been set aside, the board discussed reducing the budget

allowance for the library to more adequately represent the amount of money that had been in excess in

yearly budget requests.

Please explain how you would handle a budget request, where you were able to find that the institution

had managed to ‘save’ a large sum of money, while others were struggling to make ends meet with the

budgets provided. Do you feel that an institution should be given the full amount of their request when

such funds had been ‘saved’.

If there were unethical people involved in making requests for funds that they did not need, they should be held accountable to explain their actions.

On the other hand, who approved their budget with a million dollars on the books? A budget needs to be reviewed extensively before being approved.

Typically, unused funds should be rolled back into the general fund at the end of each year. The exception being special project funds. Was this million dollars earmarked for a special project? If it was simply unallocated surplus funds sitting around, that does not sound right, and may even be contrary to statutes.

My response to a request for funds would include the three points given above.