WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- A resignation at the City of Wausau leaves more questions than answers. Mayor Jim Tipple says Director of Public Works & Utilities Bradley Marquardt has left that position. “Brad Marquardt resigned last Friday, June 20th, from the city and I announced that today, and because it’s a personnel issue, we really don’t comment any further on that.”
Tipple says the city will begin searching for Marquardt’s replacement immediately. “We’ll be in the process of putting out a job requisition to get applicants to apply for the job, and the next question most people ask is how long that will take, well, every job has it’s certain window. This job will probably be open for a month for applicants to submit and then after that we will begin the hiring process, selecting which candidate is the best.”
Marquardt had worked for the city for 25 years. He was the focus of an ethics investigation that was expected to conclude in the next few days. He was the only person named in a legal opinion that the city had sought while investigating problems with the sculpted birds installed on the Highway 52 median. A disciplinary hearing - where the city employee involved was not named - was scheduled for this week, and has now been cancelled.
There were several problems surrounding the project. Under state rules the installation work should have been put out for competitive bids. And the city should have applied state wage and hour rules surrounding the project, but did not.
City officials have not commented on what, if any, disciplinary action was about to happen to Marquardt. Now that he has resigned, the city is treating it as a closed personnel issue. Mayor Tipple did not say if Marquardt resigned on his own, or was asked to resign. Tipple did say his office did not ask for Marquardt’s resignation, and that he was not in the office during the time Marquardt notified the city of his intention to leave.
Tipple says until a new director is hired, his office will manage that department. “I’m going to be overseeing the day-to-day activities and working with very capable managers to make that happen, and that will be until we hire a new person and they will take over those duties.”
City Attorney Anne Jacobson is out of town and unavailable to comment on what may have happened to Marquardt had he stayed with the city.