County looks to raise $3M-$5M for regional morgue
With $7.4 million of state funding available, Marathon County is looking to raise another $3 million to $5 million through a local capital campaign to pay for a proposed regional morgue.
At a Public Safety Committee meeting last week, medical examiner Jessica Blahnik updated county supervisors on the county’s efforts to match a 50 percent contribution from the Wisconsin Building Commission for a facility that is estimated to cost $14.8 million. In addition to providing advanced autopsies for as many as 28 counties in northeast Wisconsin, the forensic science center would also offer education for students, law enforcement and emergency responders.
In May, the county board voted unanimously to set aside $2 million from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund to help pay for the facility, and the county has also applied for another $2 million in federal funding. Part of the ARPA allocation is being used to pay an architect to design the center, with hopes of bidding out the project in early 2024.
Blahnik said the county doesn’t expect to hear about the federal funding request until this fall; in the meantime, members of the county’s regional morgue task force are looking at ways to close a funding gap of $3 million to $5 million.
County officials have met with representatives of the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin, who are excited about the educational component of the regional facility, Blahnik said. She said the county expects to find out soon if the foundation will agree to act as the financial agent for the project and accept donations on behalf of the county.
“They felt that we should not have an issue doing a capital campaign locally, and hopefully some of the local businesses and organizations would be willing to donate,” she said.
At some point in the near future, Blahnik said the county will host a community presentation with “key organizations” to “highlight what the project has to offer.”
County administrator Lance Leonhard said the Community Foundation, by serving as the donation recipient, could streamline the fundraising process by not requiring the county board to officially accept every contribution.
Leonhard said the county is also continuing to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with Northcentral Technical College, which is willing to sell the county land at its Wausau campus for the forensic center. The value of that transaction would be counted toward the county’s 50 percent match, as could a recently purchased storage cooler system already in use at the county morgue, he said.
“It’s certainly going to be a lot of work,” he said about the fundraising efforts. “Our timeline is that we need to have that funding in hand, or very near in hand, before we put out those requests for bids, which is looking to be in January or February.”
n Circuit Court Judge Suzanne O’Neill spoke to the committee about the ongoing work of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, which includes various representatives from the county’s law enforcement and court systems who make recommendations on judicial matters.
O’Neill said one of the committee’s priorities is to recruit more defense attorneys to represent defendants who cannot afford legal representation. Some of their ideas for incentives would require county funding, such as paying for attorneys’ state bar dues and continuing education credits, or providing them with $5,000 stipends if they agree to take a certain number of cases per month.
n The committee voted to recommend the addition of a second sheriff’s deputy designated to patrol Rib Mountain. The soon-to-be incorporated village will pay $114,000 to cover the wage and benefits of the new deputy, and has also set aside $50,000 for a squad vehicle. The county will contribute $5,000 worth of already-purchased firearms and computer equipment.
Sheriff Chad Billeb said having two full-time deputies assigned to Rib Mountain will help the county overall by freeing up deputies to patrol other areas.
n Deputy administrator Chris Holman told the committee that the sheriff’s department will be contracting with Enterprise Fleet Management to manage its fleet of 90 vehicles. By maximizing resale values, the company plans to keep the department supplied with vehicles that are no more than three to five years old, improving driver safety and reducing maintenance expenses.
