A 17-year-old nearly bought city-owned Wyatt Street property| The Weekly Wausonian

Wausau news for the week of May 29, 2025

City Council members were in a fury Tuesday night after leaders there learned that a 17-year-old nearly bought city-owned property. And that brought further questions about the city’s development process.

The city earlier in May approved a sale of parcels on Wyatt Street near the Wisconsin River for $1,000. The person, Gunther Nowak, planned to build a duplex on the empty site which currently sits empty.

The problem? No one knew he was only 17 years old.

Mayor Doug Diny had vetoed the proposal, which had passed the city council 8-2 earlier in the month. Overriding the veto would have required the vote essentially remain unchanged since only a supermajority of the council - eight votes - would be required to override the veto.

But there wasn’t much appetite on the city council to override the veto, Diny’s third since being elected last year. Especially since Nowak roughly an hour before the meeting withdrew his application. The council voted down the proposal 9-1, with only Chad Henke voting in favor. Henke told The Wausonian that he wanted to show his support for the city to continue finding housing projects and that regardless of the vote, the contract wouldn’t have been signed because of the age of the applicant.

Carol Lukens called out fellow city council members for attacking city staff and not asking more questions first before blasting them in the media. “No one is perfect,” Lukens said. “I’d guess none of us could ever claim to have never made a mistake.”

But Becky McElhaney bristled at that characterization, saying she had residents who were irate about the situation, and that she asked questions of the city’s development department team and the mayor and received no answers. And she said there were too many questions around the deal even before the age of the developer was revealed to allow her to vote for it.

Mayor Doug Diny said the city is undergoing a review to ensure a mistake like that doesn’t happen again and that the process can be shored up.

One interesting revelation: The city hadn’t had a for sale sign on the property for three years. Also of note: when this reporter attempted to navigate toward the city sites page, it displayed a privacy warning instead of navigating to the site.

Last week The Wausonian sat down with the president of Rise Up Central Wisconsin about their new community art studio:

And subscribers read the latest Full Court Press, digging into the previous month’s court case filings:

And not to mention our regular Hold My Beer feature, looking at what goes on after dark in Wausau’s nightlife.

Plus we sat down Wednesday afternoon with Jesse Bartnik, the owner of MumbleWrap, which replaced Townies next to Malarkey’s. And we also discussed an update on the restaurant the same group plans for The Cobblery. Watch for that story later today.

Subscribe to keep up with all the latest on The Wausonian:

What else in Wausau?

City council notebook:

• The city council Tuesday also approved a project that would expand trails in the city’s business park between 72nd Avenue to S. 48th Avenue. That represents a westward expansion of the trail, Economic Development Manager Andrew Lynch told city leaders.

• The city council approved borrowing $2.172 million for the city’s lead pipe replacement project. The program leverages a mix of grants and loans to replace residential lead pipes from the end of the house to the connection with city lines. Lead exposure is associated with a number of human health risks, especially in children.

• City council members approved a lease agreement that provides a discount to The Foundry for parking spaces in the city ramp it’s now connected to. Some council members balked at the 20% discount, but ED Manager Andrew Lynch explained that in the agreement the Foundry is paying for 100 spaces but only need about 50, making it a good deal for the city. It passed 7-3, with some council members saying the amount of city incentives already given to T. Wall Enterprise for The Foundry project ought to be sufficient.

Connexus lays off significant number: Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed to The Wausonian that Connexus has laid off a significant number of workers across its various locations. The layoffs, which have not yet been provided to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s WARN notices, are on top of layoffs the organization made in November and then earlier this year. Sources say as many as 60 workers were laid off in the latest move. The Credit Union Times reported that credit unions struggled in the first quarter of the year, and highlighted Connexus as struggling the most. The organization with nearly 500,000 members lost $13.8 million in the first quarter, according to the publication.

In a statement to The Wausonian, Connexus officials said:

As part of this strategic initiative, Connexus underwent organizational restructuring to better align with the needs of member-owners as an approximately $4 billion organization. This resulted in the shifting and elimination of several positions, a difficult but necessary decision to ensure the long-term sustainability and success of the member-owned financial cooperative.

Wausau Farmers Market has new a Facebook page: Some in the community were wondering why the Wausau Farmers Market hasn’t been making too many updates lately. That’s because the market just launched a new Facebook page. It appears the previous market organizer had control over the previous page and didn’t turn over credentials. So the new page was created, which you can access here.

Around the metro

Rib Mountain Finance approves letter asking for housing TIF Districts: The village of Rib Mountain’s Finance and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday approved sending a letter to state representatives calling for assistance in housing - and that includes changing Tax Increment Financing legislation to include a special housing district. Last year residents rallied against the creation of a new TIF District in Rib Mountain, prompting leaders to walk back from the proposal. This proposal still needs to be approved by the village’s full board on Tuesday.

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Business

New businesses: A number of new businesses received liquor licenses from the city, which our Wausau Tavern Report highlighted recently: Tower Cafe, Los Compadres Mexican Restaurant (going in the former Jalapenos spot), Emerald Night Club (where The Oz was), and Truley’s Eatery (where Newch’s Eatery was located). And while not a new business, Monk Botanical Gardens also received a liquor license.

Adventure Awaits is moving to a new location: Adventure Awaits Crossfit announced earlier this month it is moving to a new location. That despite moving into this new location only a little more than a year ago. In a post on social media, the business’s owner says the new location will have a more industrial vibe, going back to the organization’s CrossFit roots.

Entertainment

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades paired with Stoney Acres Pizza, a running benefit for the humane society that you and your doggie can participate in, a walk and talk in historic downtown Wausau and much more this weekend:

Looking for kids/family events? Check out the family-oriented listing from The Wausonian’s partner Wausau Mama, who puts together a weekly listing of children/family activities.

Sports

Softball: D.C. Everest shut out Wausau West last Friday 8-0 to finish out the season with the Wisconsin Valley Conference title. The 11-1 Evergreens finished two games ahead of second-place SPASH heading into the post-season. No. 1 ranked D.C. Everest will take on No. 8-ranked Hudson (13-1) today at home in the first game of the post-season tournament.

Baseball: D.C. Everest clinched the Wisconsin Valley Conference title Tuesday with a 6-4 win against SPASH. The Evergreens hold a 10-1 record going into the final game of the season, and even with a D.C. Everest loss and a Wisconsin Rapids win today (Thursday), second-place Rapids wouldn’t garner enough points to come even with the Evergreens.

Girls soccer: Wausau West and D.C. Everest battled to a tie on Tuesday in the first round of pool play to close out the season. West remains in first place with a 7-0-1 record, with Everest in second place (6-1-1). West will head to SPASH today (Thursday) and Everest will head to Marshfield today to close out conference play and the end of the season.

Boys tennis: D.C. Everest finished the tennis season in third place in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, mimicking its finish in the WVC meet last Thursday. In fact, the order in the standings was exactly identical to the standings from the WVC meet that caps off the tennis season. The WVC meet makes up a pretty significant portion of the season. For instance, first-place SPASH earned 58 points from the regular season and 36 points from its first-place finish at the WVC meet.

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