Multiple county departments relocate

By Kevin O’Brien

Now that multiple Marathon County departments have moved into one centralized location in Wausau, county officials are starting the process of selling off potentially high-value properties on Thomas Street and River Drive.

County administrator Lance Leonhard told members of the Human Resources, Finance and Personnel Committee (HRFC) last week that requests for proposals (RFPs) will soon be developed for properties recently vacated by the following departments: Conservation, Planning and Zoning; Veterans Services; Aging & Disability Resource Center; UW Extension; and Parks, Recreation and Forestry. Social Services previously moved off Thomas Street in 2023.

Administration and Human Resources have also moved out of the courthouse at 500 Forest St., and the Finance Department will soon be moving out of the building as well. All of these departments are now located at the Lake View Drive campus on the shores of Lake Wausau near North Central Health Care. Over the last couple of years, the buildings there have undergone extensive renovations to accommodate the influx of county employees who now work there.

As Leonhard put it when talking to the Western Towns Association in the town of Emmett last Wednesday, the relocations are part of a multi-phase plan to “consolidate the footprint” of county operations by divesting itself of multiple properties in the city of Wausau.

“It really is going to save county taxpayers money in the long term,” he told towns officials gathered at the Rock Ridge Orchard for their quarterly meeting.

Leonhard urged people to call the departments ahead of time to see if they actually need to come in, and if they do, most of the offices are now located at either 1000 or 1100 Lake View Drive. Signs were recently put up to direct visitors to the correct entrance.

At the HRFC meeting on April 22, Leonhard said the county is still working to facilitate the relocation of the Marathon County Employees Credit Union, which leases office space from the county at 400 E. Thomas St.

“They’ve been actively seeking out an alternative primary location for their operations,” he said. “As of right now, they are continuing negotiations.”

Leonhard said he recently spoke to the president of the credit union, who told him that they hope to close on a new location by the end of July, but they’re trying to resolve some issues with the site before moving. If that turns out not to be a viable option, they have a secondary option. “The redevelopment of Thomas Street is contingent on not having them there, so we’re trying to assist as best we can,” he said.

In the meantime, Leonhard said the credit union has signed a lease agreement to run a satellite office at the Lake View Drive campus, which should be helpful for the county employees working there.

The River Drive property, on the other hand, is fully vacated, and Leonhard said he plans to start talking with HRFC members about what they would like to see from developers interested in the sites, such as the “nature of the use” and whether or not it would generate property and sales taxes.

“Start thinking about those things,” he told committee members.

Committee chairman John Robinson said he would like the HRFC to discuss the RFPs at its second meeting in May.

“The year is slipping by, so it would be nice to start that process,” he said.

Leonhard said the committee will need to establish criteria for evaluating the development proposals that come in. Back in 2023, Robinson said the cost of renovating the Lake View Drive campus was about $4 million, while the appraised value of just the Thomas Street property alone was $3 million at that time.

“Clearly, I think the value of those facilities is much greater than the cost to renovate,” he said in 2023.

Deputy administrator Chris Holman, who is serving as interim director of Facilities & Capital Management, said all of the necessary renovations to the Lake View Drive campus have been completed, and his department will be checking in with the newly relocated departments over the next month to make sure the transition is going smoothly.

“On the whole, all of the moves went really, really well,” he said.

Lance Leonhard