Attorney: City’s Investigation Of Wausau Alderman ‘Not Appropriate’

Report Questions Whether City Council Had Authority To Investigate Alleged Incident With City Employee

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The report of an attorney hired by the city of Wausau is highly critical of the city’s investigation into the conduct of an elected alderman who is suing other members of the City Council.

Anthony Wachewicz’s report concludes that the city’s investigation of Alderman Keene Winters was “not appropriate” and that “the process and investigation was virtually doomed from the beginning.” The report said city leaders failed to consider that elected officials are subject to different rules than employees, and questioned whether the council had the authority to investigate one of its own members.

The investigation was authorized by outgoing Mayor Jim Tipple and City Council President Robert Mielke after Winters had a confrontation with a department head. Winters has filed a lawsuit against the city over an open records request, and has filed an ethics complaint against Mielke, who is being sworn in as mayor. Winters also ran for mayor and was defeated in the primary.

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The report has been forwarded to the Marathon County district attorney to see if any laws were broken during the investigation.