A challenger and a new incumbent vie for District 5
Newly appointed council member Aaron Griner faces off against challenger Andrew Wiskowski
When long-time City Council and County Board member Gary Gisselman died last year, it left a challenging hole to fill.
Both the Wausau City Council and the Marathon County Board appointed Aaron Griner to the role.
He’s now being challenged by political newcomer Andrew Wiskowski.
The race is interesting in that while Griner is technically an incumbent, he’s only served in the role for about six months. It almost makes the race more of a battle of challengers.
Both candidates bring fresh perspectives and offered insight into city operations and how the city council should work.
Aaron Griner (I)
Griner is a 36-year-old finish carpenter and a part-time property manager at the Marathon County Historical Society. He got to know Gisselman during his time at the historical society, where Gisselman worked as a librarian.
Griner says he brings a millennial’s perspective to the role as one of the few younger members on the city council.
He says he wants to focus on affordability, and that includes everything from housing to cost of living to taxes and even water rates. Griner currently serves on the Water Commission and would like to see more efficiencies there to help keep rates down for residents (he brings up the pilot in lieu of taxes as an issue, since large non-profit entities are exempt from the rates and that puts more burden on regular rate payers; and the new water meters that are more accurately measuring usage). And he wants to focus more on government efficiency.
Griner told The Wausonian he was dissatisfied with the way the firefighter funding was handled, leading to a referendum. Despite the costs being known, he felt it wasn’t really handled until the last minute. He did praise city staff for their knowledge and openness to questions from him as a new council member.
Griner emphasized his curiosity and ability to research, his ability to process lots of information and synthesize it, and his approach of respect and accountability while focusing on fiscal responsibility as reasons that voters should choose him.
Andrew Wiskowski
Wiskowski is a 42-year-old production assistant with Wausau Access Media, and comes to Wausau via London, where he worked as a professor after having grown up here. He’s running because he feels there has been a communication gap from city hall, and he wants to work to improve that communication between the city and its residents.
As a professor he interfaced with multiple aspects of government, including police, social workers and mental health organizations. He also served as the partnership manager for the Royal National Youth Theatre organization in Great Britain. That’s experience he would like to bring to the city council job.
Wiskowski is running because he’d like to strengthen communication, including improving the city’s website, which he says makes it hard to find anything. He’d like to hold town hall meetings with his constituents to regularly get feedback on issues. And he would like to see more roundtables established with community stakeholders and leaders. He said he was surprised to learn, for example, that the city didn’t regularly communicate with the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce.
Wiskowski told The Wausonian he received a lot of feedback on two things while knocking on doors in his district: The city’s efforts around addressing its road conditions, and the city’s tree-culling policies. Those are things he would like to help improve if elected.
Wiskowski says his dedication to improving communication and his vow to listen to his constituents when making voting decisions are key reasons to vote for him.
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