A Marathon County eNewsletter
Since 1945, the month of October has been designated as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Discover ways this often overlooked workforce pool can positive contribute to our community and help businesses meet their talent needs. (Click title to read article…)
The most important decision the County Board makes each year is approving the County Budget which identifies our priorities and provides direction on the work to be completed in the next year. In this article, Administrator Leonhard previews the proposed 2023 County Budget, opportunities for you to engage in the process, and how this funding plan will contribute towards our goal of becoming the healthiest, safest, and most prosperous county in Wisconsin. (Click title to read article…)
Self-care is a vital foundation of your health. Learn about the programs, agencies, businesses and groups in Marathon County that offer ways in which you can improve your knowledge of your mental and physical health to promote self-care. (Click title to read full article…)
Over the past few years, Marathon County lost more than half of its regulated childcare providers. With the current demand for childcare for outweighing the supply, community partners are coming together in search of a creative solution. Discover how the $75,000 Dream Up! Grant is a game changer in developing a strategic plan to address ongoing childcare challenges facing the county. (Click title to read full article…)
The Marathon County Public Library’s homebound outreach program, which provides home delivery option to library patrons who can’t access materials in any other way, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Discover how this program, run by volunteers, helps ensure all Marathon County residents have equal and open access to information. (Click title to read full article…).
Meet Chris Holman, Marathon County’s new Deputy County Administrator. Read the article to learn more about his role, his passion for local government, and what he enjoys about working for Marathon County. (Click title to read full article…)
While National Mental Health Awareness Month may have origins dating back to the late 1800s, its mission today remains unchanged. Learn about the mental health challenges facing today’s youth, and what steps our community is taking to address them. (Click title to read full article…)
In recognition of Foster Care Awareness Month, we’d like to honor the foster families who provide care for many children in Marathon County and highlight the need for additional foster families. Whether its serving as a foster parent, respite provider, or community volunteer, learn about ways you can help support children and families in Marathon County. (Click title to read article…)
For many of us, the internet plays an important role in our daily lives. The increase in remote work, online learning, and telehealth services with the onset of the pandemic underscored the need for broadband expansion not only in Marathon County, but across the United States. Learn about the history of broadband expansion in Marathon County and the ongoing efforts of the Broadband Task Force. (Click title to read article…)
Beginning this Spring, several Marathon County Public Library locations will once again host story times for families to enjoy…only outside! Check out the article to learn more about story time locations, what you should bring with you if you plan to attend, and where you can find the most up-to-date story time schedule. (Click title to read article…)
A family’s need for child support services often comes with a pivotal moment in their life such as a separation, divorce, or unplanned pregnancy. Learn how Marathon County’s Department of Social Services is improving outcomes for families through the ELEVATE program. (Click title to read article…)
March has been officially declared as Music Therapy Month by Governor Tony Evers. Learn more about the profession and the music therapy program offered right here in Marathon County at North Central Health Care. (Click title to read full article….)
Get to know the newest team member of Marathon County Administration, Noor Ali Hassan. Noor joins us as a Special Projects Coordinator focused on ensuring progress on the larger initiatives of the County’s Strategic Plan. Read the article to learn about Noor’s public service career and why she’s choosing to call Marathon County home. (Click title to read article…)
The Marathon County Broadband Task Force is looking to county residents and businesses to report their internet speeds through a free speed testing initiative. The data collected will help accurately illustrate the unserved or underserved areas in Marathon County. Read the article for information on how to complete the speed test and how you can help support these efforts. (Click title to read full story…)
Get to know Andy Sims, the new Assistant Director of Operations for the Wausau & Marathon County Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Department. Learn about Andy’s favorite parts of the job, what he enjoys doing in his free time, and why he’s so passionate about the amenities we have here in Marathon County. (Click title to read full story….)
November is National Family Literacy Month – a holiday tailor made for libraries like the Marathon County Public Library. Read more to learn about some of the programs and online resources available through MCPL, including videos, websites and other resources that can be accessed 24/7 at your convenience!
With an unemployment rate near a record low, employers across Marathon County are struggling to recruit and retain workers for their businesses. Discover how expanding your hiring practices to include individuals with disabilities can positively impact your business and help you fill open positions. Plus, learn about local resources available to support you in the move towards a more inclusive work environment. (Click title to read full story…)
The most important decision the County Board makes each year is approving the County Budget which identifies our priorities and provides direction on the work to be completed in the next year. Take a look as Administrator Leonhard previews the proposed 2022 County Budget and how this funding plan will help make Marathon County a preferred place to live, work, visit, and do business. (Click title to read article….)
Get to know Marathon County’s new Health Officer, Laura Scudiere, learn more about the role of the health department, and their contributions towards making Marathon County the healthiest, safest, and most prosperous county in Wisconsin. (Click title to read article…)
Written by Kaitlyn Bernarde National 4-H Week will be celebrated October 3-9, 2021. This week celebrates the accomplishments of 4-H…
Millions of Americans face the reality of living with a mental health condition. Each year during the first week of October, people from across the county join together to raise awareness of mental health illness, fight discrimination and provide support during Mental Illness Awareness Week. Join the conversation and let’s help end the stigma around mental health in our community.
Learn more about the mental and behavioral resources available to you and your family right here in Marathon County through North Central Health Care. (Click title for details).
Over the past few months Wausau residents and visitors alike have watched the deconstruction and demolition of the Wausau mall. Not only was there angst about the demise of this city center landmark, but also what some thought was a waste of resources. Find out how much of the mall was recycled and how much actually ended up in a landfill. (Click title for details).
Written by Eileen Eckardt We’ve all heard so much about COVID-19 immunizations these past few months. Still, the Marathon County…
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also known as ARPA, was signed into law by President Biden on March…
Written by Jenna Flynn Throughout my discussion with Joan, there was an emerging theme that partnerships and collaboration have been…
Come see this year’s musical acts in the grandstands, take in a rodeo and demolition derby, try out some of our new food vendors, participate in the new Riding Class as part of the Draft Horse Show, and much more!
There’s still time to get involved in the 2021 Fair, too! Bring in items to be judged against other members of the public ranging from Poultry and Rabbits to Vegetables and Photography. Enter the apple-pie baking contest or the Fairest of the Fair’s coloring contest. (Click the title for details…)
We welcome Laurie Miskimins as our new Director of the Conservation, Planning & Zoning (CPZ) Department in Marathon County. She joins us from Colorado with over 10 years of experience in planning, policy development, and project delivery in federal land settings. (And she’s been to 160 of the 422 National Parks!)
Learn about some of the great work her CPZ team is doing throughout the County, and get to know more about Laurie in the full article… (Click the title for details.)
In Marathon County, we encourage you to celebrate Park and Recreation Month this July by visiting one of our City or County Parks. Then take our July social media challenge and share how parks and recreation in your community has impacted your life with the hashtag: #OurParkAndRecStory
Check out our online Spring & Summer Recreation Guide, which is jam-packed with outdoor activities and programming that your local park and recreation professionals have planned for you to enjoy in Marathon County.
Plus, get a bonus sneak peek at some August events like a Dog-Gone Pool Party, Movie in the Park & Family Pajama Party, Marathon County Park 100+1 Anniversary Event. View all this and more in the full article… (Click the title for details.)
Marathon County has been awarded a $1 million Community Development Block Grant in partnership with North Central Community Action Program (NCCAP) and MCDEVCO (Marathon County Development Corporation).
The purposes of the grant are to provide relief due to hardships from the pandemic to support low- to moderate-income individuals with mortgage and rental assistance and small businesses severely affected by COVID-19. This grant is available to rural areas only; therefore, the grant excludes the City of Wausau from eligibility. (Click the title for details…)
All Marathon County Public Library (MCPL) locations returned to pre-pandemic operating hours on June 1, 2021. A closure that lasted more than 1 year gave the library a chance to make some changes at its Wausau Headquarters.
If you haven’t been back to the library yet, check out some pictures of updates you can look forward to at MCPL Wausau, including new, modern furniture; comfy, private study nooks; an updated Teen Zone with charging stations; a beautiful repurposed Rotunda, first-floor computers; and more! (Click the title for details…)
The 5th annual Central Wisconsin Book Festival will include up to 30 events spread across Wausau, Stevens Point, and Wisconsin Rapids, along with various virtual events. Children’s authors, non-fiction, poetry, and, of course, fiction will all be part of the 10-day lineup. Read on to see some of the authors and poets already scheduled to attend. (Click the title for details…)
After 29 years, Judy Burrows is retiring from the Marathon County Health Department. She’s been a key leader in Wisconsin for Smoke-Free Air legislation and has led many statewide tobacco prevention and control efforts and coalitions.
Judy founded the Chronic Disease Prevention Team (now called the Community Health Improvement Team) at the Marathon County Health Department, and was the Public Information Officer in front of the camera throughout the COVID-19 response.
On behalf of the State of Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers, Senator Jerry Petrowski, and Representative Patrick Snyder issued Judy a legislative citation recognizing her 29-year career in public service. Congratulations to Judy on this well-deserved distinction!
Read the full article to learn more about Judy’s amazing career serving Marathon County. (Click the title for details.)
Beginning in June 2021, the Central Wisconsin Airport will resume pre-pandemic flight volumes, with more planes leaving Central Wisconsin than there have been in over a year!
Through the summer, Delta Airlines will be offering 6 flights departing Mosinee to Detroit and Minneapolis;
American Airlines is flying 3 times daily to Chicago; and United Airlines is flying twice daily to Chicago. That’s 11 flights daily departing CWA!
Read on to learn more about our local airport’s recent state-of-the-art renovations, low fares right now, and current safety protocols for flying safely. Central Wisconsin Airport… Your journey begins here. (Click the title for the full story…)
After 4 months of weekly classes, 35 (volunteer) professional business class instructors, and one-on-one mentoring, 18 entrepreneurs are on their way to launching — or already have launched — their businesses right here in Marathon County with the help of MCDEVCO.
Learn about their “dolphin tank” experience, upcoming programming for future assistance, and their “Crops & Shops Marketplace” events that feature food trucks and children’s crafts and are open to the public to purchase items that are ag-related (CROPS) or from a small business located throughout Marathon County (SHOPS).
(Click the title to read more…)
After working for a decade as a teacher and then serving as a Park Manager for Wausau and Marathon County for 20 years, Allen Opall got involved in Town of Rib Mountain Government.
He has close to 2 decades at the helm for the Town of Rib Mountain, and spent the last 6 years representing Rib Mountain while also serving on the Marathon County Board of Supervisors. His interest in civics and local government is matched (or perhaps exceeded) by his love for the outdoors. Get to know a bit more about Supervisor Opall in the full article… (Click the title for details.)
On May 9–15, 2021, we’ll celebrate National Skilled Nursing Care Week to honor the collaborative commitment of skilled nursing care facilities and their staff throughout Marathon County in providing compassionate care to their residents during this unprecedented time under a global pandemic. We thank you for your sacrifice, talent, and compassion.
Be sure to click over to the full article to get an inside (and outside!) peek of the new 96-bed skilled nursing facility being constructed at the North Central Health Care Campus in Wausau. (Click the title for details…)
Through a grant from Security Health, area schools in Marathon County have been able to utilize the b.e.s.t. screening tool to determine how students are adjusting to school closures in terms of their mental health. This has helped school staff to create and deliver interventions to support our local students.
In addition, the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service (WIPPS) conducted research with 160 middle and high school students from across Wisconsin (many from our rural schools) in a study entitled “The Voices of Wisconsin Student Projects: Learning, Coping, and Building Resilience During COVID-19.” Read the full article for the project’s findings regarding the impact of school closures on students’ learning and what coping skills they are employing during this difficult time. (Click the title for details.)
Mark Dorow comes to the Wausau / Marathon County Parks, Recreation & Forestry Department with over 11 years of experience providing recreation programs, with an emphasis on aquatic programming.
Learn about Mark’s background, his collaboration with Wausau Area Pickleball to offer pickleball classes and a tournament at the newly renovated Marathon Park pickleball courts, and more. (Click the title for details . . .)
The Marathon County Board of Trustees set a tentative date of June 1, 2021, for all 9 MCPL locations to return to pre-pandemic hours of operation.
Get the details on what will be available (and what won’t) at that time, and read about some of the great summer programming they have lined up for their dedicated patrons — including outdoor family story times! (Click the title for details…)
The demolition of the Wausau Center Mall in May 2021 creates an opportunity for new development in an 8-city-block area to revitalize the downtown economy. See project renderings and plans for the space, which include a mix of housing and retail with an open, urban landscape featuring a beer garden, 4-season public market, a winding pathway down to the river, and more.
Read on to learn more about the economic development plans for Downtown Wausau, as well as those for Rib Mountain / Granite Peak Ski Area. (Click the title for details…)
For the past several years, Marathon County has been ranked in the top quarter or third of the 72 counties for our health. Being among the top-ranked counties demonstrates our commitment in achieving our goal of working toward being the healthiest, safest, and most prosperous county in Wisconsin.
See how the current health-ranking results break down in terms of our strengths — and our areas for improvment — in the full article. (Click the title for details.)
What started out as a grassroots effort to raise money for 1 canine in the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office has now grown into a law enforcement K9 program made up of 4 dogs, plus a fund to support all the dogs well into the future. The level of community support for this program — which utilizes NO tax levy dollars provided by the County — has recently garnered attention in national magazines.
Read on to see why Marathon County is making national news (and see pics of our beloved K9s and ways to support the program). (Click the title for details…)
Read on for an update on MCPL’s April classes and crafts (like virtual poetry readings and bracelet kits), and learn a bit about some of the renovations taking place to give the libraries a fresh new look. For example, pictured above is one of the new workstations at the MCPL-Wausau Headquarters that offers a place to charge devices as you work.(Click the title for details…)
If you are looking in Marathon County for a resource that has uniquely helped reshape lives, look no further than North Central Health Care’s Community Corner Clubhouse. The facility and its staff help adults with mental illness and AODA (alcohol and other drug addiction) issues realize their potential by providing them with a Clubhouse where they can meet friends, build self-confidence, learn valuable life skills, and discover untapped talents.
In 2021, Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenburg officially declared April 1 “Clubhouse Day,” marking Clubhouse’s monumental 25th anniversary year serving the Wausau community. (Click the title for details . . .)
In 2019, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northcentral Wisconsin was able to serve 348 children. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that number decreased in 2020 to 237.
Tracy Vick, Nikki Burkholder, and Zachary Ruesch are 3 dedicated local government employees who volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northcentral Wisconsin. After reading their stories, consider if becoming a Big to a Little in need might be a good fit for you, too! (Click the title for details…)
Each year, thousands of high school students compete around the State in regional Mock Trial tournaments. This year, due to COVID, the Wausau regional competition was entirely virtual.
Mock Trial Participant Abby Trueblood provides an overview of the 2021 virtual event and lets you in on who walked away with the victory, as only 1 winning school (instead of 2) was allowed to advance to the State competition from our region this year due to the pandemic. (Click the title for details…)
To date, Wausau has sold 22 cords of ash logs (removed due to concerns with emerald ash borer) to Urban Evolutions, which will enable the Wausau/Marathon County Parks, Recreation, & Forestry Department to use the funds to plant more than 20 new trees. It’s a win-win!
Also, the Wausau School District was recently awarded a grant to purchase a portable sawmill. Teachers plan to develop a curriculum within the district that teaches students the basics of forest products and their utilization. Work products from the sawmill produced by the students could possibly be used by the PRF Department.
Read the full article to learn more about these exciting new partnerships. (Click the title for details…)
An accomplished professional and attorney with Judicare, Jenifer Bizzotto has already immersed herself in Marathon County culture and government, though she has only lived here since 2018.
Bizzotto ran for a position on the Marathon County Board of Supervisors in 2020, and, while she did not win the election, she was appointed by the Board to represent District 2 when former Supervisor Romey Wagner resigned after moving out of the district.
Learn why this young professional was inspired to move to Marathon County from Madison and get involved in our local politics in the full article. (Click the title for details…)
Marathon County began hosting a regional Community-Based Vaccination Clinic for those in Northcentral Wisconsin on April 6, 2021.
The clinic is located at Northcentral Technical College’s Center for Business & Industry in Wausau and can vaccinate up to 400 people a day, with the capacity to grow that number to 1,000 a day as vaccine supply becomes more available from the federal government.
See how to sign up to receive your first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in the full article. (Click the title for details.)
Marathon County will be 1 of 4 new sites in Wisconsin hosting a regional community vaccination clinic. Locations are planned to open sometime in April 2021, when the vaccine is more readily available.
So far, 40.1% of Marathon County residents aged 65 and over have received at least 1 dose of the vaccine.
The Marathon County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution authorizing County officials to take actions necessary to facilitate the regional vaccination site. Marathon County Health Department staff have recommended that the site operate on the grounds of Northcentral Technical College due to its onsite infrastructure, layout, and transportation access; however, the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is evaluating the recommendation and should be able to announce a site in the near future.
Learn more about the vaccine’s rollout and eligible populations, how to sign up to receive vaccine alerts from Marathon County on your smartphone, and more in the full article… (Click the title for details.)
Wisconsin Central Time NEWS 