Weston Board Member Resigns | Weekly Wausonian

Wausau news for the week of April 24, 2024

Weston Village Board Member Jim Pinsonneault resigned from the village board Monday night.

Pinsonneault, speaking at the public comment period, cited the village conducting its conversations outside the board room, holding walking quorums and that it was stuck in the past and refused to embrace new technology. He also accused the board of paying $450,000 to a “wealthy developer who has not met the terms of his development agreement and owes $30,000 in unpaid property taxes.”

Pinsonneault told the board he’d just turned in his resignation letter prior to the meeting.

Pinsonneault ran for village president this spring, falling short to incumbent village president Mark Maloney. In an interview with The Wausonian he made many of the same points he made at Monday night’s meeting.

Maloney told The Wausonian the decision was unexpected and accused Pinsonneault of making false accusations, but said he wishes him and his business well.

What’s next for the Wausau School District now that the referendum failed? We sat down with district leaders to learn what’s next:

What’s going on with Wausau’s nightlife? Find out in our monthly Wausau Tavern Report:

What else in Wausau?

City hires new HR director: City Hall announced it has a new human resources director following the departure of James Henderson. The city announced Lisa Nowak as Wausau’s new Human Resources director. She’ll replace Henderson, who departed the city in December. Nowak previously worked in HR roles at Foundation Finance, Greenheck and Eastbay and teaches at NTC. She is also a white belt in Lean Six Sigma, a business efficiency framework.

Lisa Nowak

Wausau Police seeking employees for new shelter: Wausau Police are currently searching for employees for the new homeless shelter the city is working on. The city decided to start seeking a new organization to lead the shelter after Catholic Charities announced it would no longer run its shelter after May. The city is currently seeking proposals for an organization to run the shelter after the first round brought no responses.

Diny announces new ethics board appointments: Wausau Mayor Doug Diny announced new appointments to the city’s Ethics Board as three members’ terms are set to expire. Diny appointed Lon Roberts, a former managing partner at Ruder Ware; Dr. Thomas Garver, a former orthopedic surgeon at Marshfield Clinic; and Deb Hadley, a retired businesswoman and co-owner of Hadley Office Supply. The board is set to hold a hearing April 30 regarding an ethics complaint filed against Diny earlier this year. The board seats Diny is replacing currently belong to Brian Mason, Doug Hosler and Robyn DeVos. Diny also announced he will appoint Kevin Hermening to the open second alternative spot. The Wausau City Council will need to approve the appointments, and they previously were reluctant to approve any appointments while the ethics complaint was still being investigated.

Committee approves AI program for police records: Wausau Police have been testing an AI system to help speed up records response times. The AI add-on to the Axon software police are already using helps automatically identify sensitive information in videos that police need to redact before releasing them to the public. During the trial period the records request backlog went from 10-14 weeks down to five to six weeks, as redactions take 45-75% less time, says Wausau Police Captain Nathan Cihlar. Police Chief Matt Barnes told the city’s Finance Committee, which approved the budget amendment of $15,618 Tuesday evening, that he had been planning on asking for another staff member to deal with the backlog. But with this new system, Barnes says he no longer thinks that’s necessary.

Downtown hit with power outage: Downtown Wausau was hit with a power outage Friday evening, downtown business owners report. The outage appeared to hit around 5:30 pm. It appeared to be short-lived, with most power restored by around 6:15 pm.

Around the metro

Weston appoints Hooshang Zeyghami to the board: Following the presidential and village board elections, the results are that Weston was one person short on its village board. The Weston Village Board last week appointed Hooshang Zeyghami to the open seat. Board members Jim Pinsonneault and Jamie Weiland protested the move, saying the board ought to look at a more open process for appointing the seat. The seat was open because Mark Maloney and Pinsonneault ran for the village president and their board seats, and Maloney won both so had to give up the board seat. Zeyghami garnered the least votes in the race, though Maloney argued he still had more than 2,000 votes. Maloney had said in his campaign that if he won he would appoint to the board whoever didn’t win.

Land purchase for new highway department approved: The county board Tuesday approved the purchase of land in Kronenwetter for a new highway department building. The site is located near Wausau Tile on Bus. Hwy. 51 in Kronenwetter and is expected to cost in total (there are three parcels) just under $800,000. That came after an attempt to postpone the action because some supervisors felt that Kronenwetter officials weren’t properly notified.

Business

Jalapenos surrenders license, new restaurant coming: Jalapenos voluntarily surrendered its liquor license Monday afternoon, City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde says. A new Mexican restaurant called Los Compadres is planned for the space, Bernarde says, and hopes to open in June. The city’s Public Health and Safety Committee reviewed the situation Monday as prior to that, city officials hadn’t been able to contact the owners of the restaurant to get the licenses back. In other action, the committee also granted a 90-day extension on Day’s Bowl-a-Dome as it restores its building following a fire in February.

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Entertainment

Candlelight concerts, the Allen Brothers, a coin show, The Chad O’Kennedy, the history of The Charleston and more in this week’s Wausome Weekend Guide:

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 remains on top of the Wisconsin Valley Conference, with a 3-0 record. But Wausau West is working its way up after the Warriors defeated Marshfield 12-11 Tuesday. That improves the team to 1-1 in the conference.

Baseball: D.C. Everest is leading the Valley Conference so far with a 2-0 record, tied with Wisconsin Rapids and SPASH for first place. The Evergreens defeated Marshfield 8-4 Thursday to remain undefeated.

Girls soccer: Wausau West kicked off the season with a win in its first Wisconsin Valley Conference matchup. The Warriors defeated cross-town rivals D.C. Everest 2-1 Thursday. That leaves them tied with SPASH and Wisconsin Rapids for first place.

Boys tennis: Thursday’s matches were postponed, so the season will kick off today (Thursday) instead.

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