MARSHFIELD, WI (OnFocus) – City Administrator Steve Barg and his constituents put together a 219-page document detailing the City’s proposed budget for 2022.
Included in that document, Barg mentioned in the preview of the budget that different departments asked to add three different positions to the 2022 budget. Barg recommended that the City Common Council only approve one of those positions. The approved position would be one that the City would only be accountable for 20 percent of the salary for.
The position would be created to help the City manage events at the Wenzel Family Plaza.
In April of this year, Marshfield Parks and Recreation Director Justin Casperson went before the Common Council to pitch the idea. He brought with him Nicki Ryner who had been working as the Wenzel Family Plaza Director but did not have an affiliation with the City at that time in terms of where her salary was coming from.
At the meeting, Casperson explained that Ryner worked closely with the Parks and Rec Department, Visit Marshfield and the Economic Development Board.
The idea is that with Ryner being labeled a Parks and Recreation Department employee, she would be able to assist in creating more opportunities for events to be held in Marshfield parks.
The position creates around $20,000 in additional cost for the city. The other 80 percent of salary and benefits will be paid by the Economic Development Board (40 percent) and Visit Marshfield (40 percent).
Up until 2020, the EDB and Visit Marshfield were paying $50,000 each for benefits and salary. In 2020, the groups withheld their funding for the position.
The other two positions that were recommended by Barg to not be included in the 2022 budget were a Human Resources Generalist position and a GIS Specialist position.
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