A Marathon County eNewsletter
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.)
The initiatives found within the proposed Marathon County Land & Water Resource Management Plan will guide the Conservation, Planning & Zoning Department’s Land and Water Program over the next 10 years, from 2021 through the year 2030.
The proposed plan provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the county’s land and water resources, including areas for continued protection and improvement. It also includes of full listing of accomplishments from the previous 10 years, a framework of outcome-based goals, and a realistic implementation plan.
The public is invited to attend public hearings and other meetings related to the LWRM Plan and to submit feedback to the CPZ Department. (Click the title for details…)
The Marathon County Conservation, Planning, and Zoning (CPZ) Department has started the process of adding nearly 7,000 Private Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (commonly called “POWTS” or “septic systems”) to its Maintenance Program. State regulations now require counties to include all septic systems and holding tanks — regardless of age — in the POWTS Maintenance Program. (Click the title to read the full story…)
County Administrator Brad Karger reflects on the back-to-back August shootings and how local staff and officials are working to ensure public safety in Marathon County.
Learn about suicide prevention measures, veteran supports, active shooter training for government employees, cybersecurity updates, a specially trained crisis response team, onsite school-based trauma therapists, and more in the full article. (Click the title for details…)
County Administrator Brad Karger explains the June Pride resolution, as well as the July reconsideration vote.
The most significant takeaway? The majority of Supervisors still voted to declare June as Pride Month in Marathon County, thus educational sessions and assessments with regard to the County’s fair treatment of all residents and employees will go on as directed in the resolution that passed in June, and June will remain “Pride Month” in Marathon County. (Click the title for details…)
Wisconsin Judicare’s program works with the Marathon County court system to provide FREE mediation services (by trained volunteers) to citizens in a variety of civil cases, helping to free up our already overloaded courts.
Marathon County’s mediation program has already had national recognition in a Harvard Law & Policy Review article, and the success of the program in its first year has led to a planned expansion to mediate over 400 cases in its second year.
Learn more about the financial, emotional, and other benefits of this community program — and how to register for an upcoming volunteer mediator training session — in the full article. (Click the title for details…)
Our existing broadband access is bad for business in Marathon County. Not all businesses and residents in Marathon County have access to reliable, high-speed internet — and that puts us at a disadvantage attracting businesses and recruiting talented people to live and work here.
Area farmers and rural teachers find it especially hard to do their jobs without reliable wireless internet. Marathon County Government was tasked with hiring a consulting firm that specializes in assisting communities with broadband expansion to help us create an action plan. Read on to learn more about this project and what’s being done to help area farmers and teachers in the meantime. (Click the title for details…)
CPZ Director Rebecca Frisch provides insights into the top-5 questions people ask the Marathon County Conservation, Planning, & Zoning Department. Get insightful answers to 5 questions about their mapping app available to the public, protecting our waters from pollution, Town vs. County zoning options, and more in the full article . . .
(Click the title for details…)
The Metallic Mining Ordinance Team acted swiftly to protect Marathon County residents and public resources from the impact of mining in Marathon County via a new ordinance. In doing so, the team earned a special County recognition as “Team of the Year” for 2018.
Learn about this team’s quick thinking in establishing some parameters in response to outside interest in mining gold found in the town of Easton near the Eau Claire Dells. (Click the title to learn more.)
Marathon County will “hit the Pause button” on its Uniform Addressing project in November, when snow and frozen ground will prohibit crews from installing any more street and address signposts. Workers will begin installing signs again in spring 2019.
Read on for info on voter ID, project updates, a children’s “My Home Address” practice worksheet, and which municipalities are scheduled to get new addresses yet in 2018 and which will wait till 2019. (Click the title to read the full story.)
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