Council votes 6-2 against mayoral appointment

STAR JOURNAL REPORT

The majority of Rhinelander City Council members didn’t rubberstamp a mayoral appointment Monday night to the Finance, Wage and Salary Committee.

Mayor Dick Johns sought City Council approval to appoint alderman Steve Sauer to the committee, for which alderman Tom Gleason has asked to step down from, though Gleason will be remaining on the council.

However, only Sauer and Gleason voted in favor of the appointment with the other six council members rejecting it. Coincidentally, the 6-2 vote on the council was the same split last August on the ouster of former city administrator Kristina Aschenbrenner when only Sauer and Gleason opposed terminating her contract.

Finance Committee chairman Mark Pelletier said he preferred having more advanced notice about a possible appointment to that committee, rather than having first found out in the agenda the weekend before the council meeting about who the mayor wanted to appoint.