WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- The details of the settlement package between the City of Wausau and its recently departed Public Works Director are now known.
Several news organizations filed open records requests with the City of Wausau to get the details of the deal with Brad Marquardt. WSAW television claims they have those documents, which show Marquardt getting 27 weeks of severance pay, guaranteeing him a paycheck and health insurance until the end of the year. The deal would also call for the City of Wausau to write Marquardt a letter of recommendation and assurances they won’t contest his unemployment.
That arrangement means Marquardt will be receiving well over $60,000 dollars this year for six months of doing nothing, plus he will be able to collect unemployment when those payments end in early 2015.
Brad Marquardt resigned Friday, June 20th in light of the contracts and alleged bidding law violations with the decorative birds project on Wausau’s Highway 52 Parkway near Highway 51. He claims he did nothing wrong.
An attorney reviewing the case recommended that city officials fire Marquardt. Instead he resigned, and appears to have left with very favorable terms for him.
It’s not so favorable for the taxpayers. Wausau is now searching for Marquardt’s replacement. Wausau is hiring Voorhees Associates from Deerfield Illinois to find qualified candidates for the Director of Public Works position. That cost is not known.
The new hire can expect to make in excess of $100,000 in base pay annually like Marquardt did, meaning taxpayers will be paying twice for the same services if the city of Wausau hires Marquardt’s replacement before the end of the year.