MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU) — The city of Marshfield continues to navigate business without a Mayor after Bob McManus was removed from office this spring, and City Administrator Steve Barg says that patter will continue for the foreseeable future.
“This summer, we actually had a presentation by the League of Wisconsin municipalities about other forms of government,” said Barg. “We have a weak-mayor system. But other places have a strong-mayor system, a council-manager form of government, and there are other ideas.”
Barg says he hasn’t gotten any indication from the council that they want to swap out their weak-mayor system, meaning as summer turns into fall it’s time for those who want to run for Mayor next spring to get serious. “If you’re thinking about it, you might want to talk to people who know how to do this- asking what kind of game plan [you should] have to get the word out about who you are and what you stand for. Maybe [start planning] flyers and other promotional materials
“I know that may sound weird to some people listening to us because we are still in August, but it’s not that far until December 1st. Ninty days goes by pretty quickly,” he added.
December 1st is the day candidates can formally begin circulating nominating petitions to run for the Spring election, including for Mayor and any city council seats that may be up for grabs.
Barg says while he doesn’t have any inside info on how many people may be considering a run for the job, which is a part-time commitment, but he does expect it will be a competitive race.
“Typically when we have an incumbent people are hesitant to file- they think ‘Oh I’ll run for office when that person steps aside.’” But, with no incumbent, I think it’s very possible we will see multiple candidates, but time will tell,” he said.
The last time there was no incumbent in the field was in 2018 when former Mayor Chris Meyer chose to step away. That led to a three-person primary in February before McManus, at that time a political outsider in the city, picked up the win over Alderman Tom Witzel.
Other topics Barg discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include:
Start of video- Process for electing new Mayor next spring
5:55- Experimenting with closing City Hall at noon on Friday
10:50- Future of using remote access for city meetings
15:30- Overview of how things have gone at City Hall without a Mayor.
