By Keene Winters

If you were in a hurry to get out of town for the long holiday weekend, you might have missed one of the biggest local news stories so far this year: the Wausau City Council voted 8-2 to enter into a development agreement with a 17-year-old high school student.

The contract with a minor had the city giving this young man three city lots and a minimum of $25,000 in site remediation for $1,000 and the promise to build a duplex on the site. You can read about this most recent economic development folly in Wausau Pilot and Review.

Who is responsible for this? To be clear, public officials have a fiduciary responsibility to do their jobs with diligence and care. When they do a good job, credit is due. When there are lapses in judgment and errors, there should be a reckoning.

There are some heroes in this story. Credit is due to Shereen Siewert, the editor of the Wausau Pilot and Review, for the investigative journalism that broke the story. Where would we be if there was no one to cover a story like this?

Kudos to Mayor Doug Diny who had the courage to take a stand and veto the lop-sided deal in the face of a veto-proof council majority. Had he not done so, the city would be liable for finding a way to break the contract.

The highest praise should be reserved for Alder Terry Kilian. Not only did she take the slings and arrows from her colleagues for opposing this measure in committee and on the council floor, but she spoke truth to power. In responding to the Pilot, she said that the council cannot trust the work product it receives from city hall staff, and it is an ongoing problem.

While that simple truth is probably obvious to everyone in town, saying it out loud is the kind of thing that can get an alder—or a mayor—in deep trouble with a vengeful and powerful clique. They will start by spinning any attempt to call them to task as “anti-public employee.” Once the wagons are circled, the process of marginalization will begin. And, if a person persists, he or she may find themselves the subject of a frivolous, but financial punitive legal action.

The dirty little secret is that a majority of the city’s economic development measures are one-sided give-aways that get worse with age because no one systematically monitors and enforces the agreements. There should be an audit of the city’s development agreements. There should be regular reporting to the council on the status of open agreements.

Is the problem just the city’s economic development staff? No, because they do not exist in a bubble. The Director of Finance should be taking a lead on setting the control environment for all things involving money and should play a key role in seeing that public funds are used wisely.

There is also the City Attorney. That position is responsible for making sure that the city only enters into workable and enforceable contracts and that there are systems in place for monitoring compliance. The Finance Director and City Attorney cannot simply stick their heads in the sand and say “that is not my department.”

At the end of the day, it is the council itself that is persistently negligent in overseeing senior city staff. It’s easy to say yes. It is uncomfortable to be skeptical and ask questions. It is even harder to tell someone that their work product is unacceptable. But that is the job.

Now, the eight alders who voted for this give-away scheme owe all of us a written explanation in this publication why they did what they did and how they will fix the problem. There is no excuse for not firing someone this time.

Keene Winters is a former Wausau city alderman. He is also a two-time winner of recognition from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association for opinion page content.

Editor’s note: Wausau Pilot & Review gladly publishes commentary from readers, residents and candidates for local offices. The views of readers and columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot & Review. To submit, email editor@wausaupilotandreview.com or mail to 500 N. Third St., Suite 208-8, Wausau, Wis. 54403.

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Opinion: Wausau council’s contract with teen developer exposes deeper failures at city hall