Wausau committee votes to reduce Citizens Advisory Committee size amid quorum concerns

The City of Wausau Public Health & Safety Committee voted on Jan. 19 to reduce the size of the Citizens Advisory Committee (the local CDBG/citizen advisory body) from 13 to 11 members in response to recurring vacancies and quorum problems.

Tammy (city staff) told the committee the advisory body has struggled to keep seats filled, forcing meetings to be postponed when there was no quorum. "We've had a couple of times we've had to reschedule meetings because we didn't have a quorum," Tammy said, and recommended lowering the membership to improve reliability while retaining geographic and demographic diversity.

Committee members discussed alternatives, including reducing to nine, but emphasized retaining enough members for broad representation. Tammy said she had consulted the attorney's office and found that HUD does not mandate a specific citizen-advisory size; local communities determine the structure that works best for them.

Watson moved to change the number of citizen members to 10 plus one alder (11 total), and McElhinney seconded. The chair recorded the motion as carried with no opposition.

What changed: the committee authorized the reduction to 11 members (10 citizen seats plus 1 alder), noting the change would help ensure quorum consistency and preserve an appointed alder seat.

Next steps: staff will proceed with the membership adjustment and continue outreach to recruit candidates for current vacancies; any ordinance or charter edits required to effect the change will be returned to the committee when drafted.

Reported facts and direct quotes come from the committee meeting record and the speakers named above.