Marathon County and Wausau City Council’s newest member joins budget discussions

WAUSAU, Wis. (WXCO) – The Marathon County Board and Wausau City Council have a new face, and he has joined in the thick of budget season.

Aaron Griner was appointed to the Marathon County Board in September, and then to the City Council in October. 

He’s finishing out the terms of former alder and supervisor Gary Gisselman, who passed away in August. 

“Really why I wanted to do it is, I kind of wanted to see more people like me on the council,” Griner said.

He says out of the 38 members of the county board and 11 on the council, there are very few in Griner’s age group. 

“There’s maybe three of us in our 30s on there,” he said. “We’ve had vastly different lifestyle experiences. We have different skill sets than some of these other people do.”

He says his goal as a city council member is to enable the various city departments to continue the work they do.

“I want everyone to have everything at their expense so they can do their job to the best of their ability and continue providing the same level of services that people in the city have come to expect,” Griner said.

The City Council faces a number of sticking points going into their meeting tomorrow, including considering a referendum aimed at funding twelve firefighter-paramedic positions.

The positions are currently funded by federal grants set to expire at the end of next year. 

Griner says he hopes the city council can work together to find a better or more efficient way to meet the city’s needs at a lower cost. 

“I’m looking down the road to try to figure out how we’re gonna address these problems in the future so it doesn’t have to become a problem like this again,” he said.

The City Council is set to vote on the referendum and the city budget at Tuesday’s 5:30 p.m. meeting.