By CAROL KENT
Like many employers, the Town of Wausau has struggled to hire and retain qualified employees, notably to serve in the position of maintenance, a key role in keeping Wausau’s infrastructure operations running smoothly.
The Town has hired – and lost – two maintenance personnel over the past nine months, leaving many tasks such as mowing and small repairs at the risk of being delayed until Town officials could find help. But one group of Wausau residents stepped in, volunteering their time and talents to give back to their hometown.
At the heart of the effort are Joe Phillips, his sister Sharon Gross, and her husband John Gross. Having grown up in Wausau, Joe and Sharon come from a long line of service. Their grandfather, Homer Phillips, was the town’s first fire chief. Their father, Bobby Joe Phillips, also served as fire chief and later, as Mayor, and their mother, Gerry Tharpe has a long history of being active in the Wausau Community Development Club.
Currently, their sister, Lynn Gothard, is working as the Wausau Town Clerk, and Joe serves as Chaplin for the Wausau Volunteer Fire Department.
The siblings, along with John Gross and other occasional volunteers, have mowed grass, helped locate water meters, made small repairs, and performed other routine duties. Wausau Community Development Club President Steve Taylor recently helped prep the Possum Palace grounds for the upcoming Fun Day and Possum Festival donkey ball tournament, and Wausau volunteer firefighter Jeff Martin has also contributed time to help with other grounds maintenance.
“[The Town] is short staffed, and even when they have a maintenance person, with all the mowing that has to be done during the summer, if they just do mowing, they wouldn’t be able to get to the other maintenance items,” said Phillips. “We mow the Possum Palace every other week and try to keep things up to date there, as well as at Town Hall, especially since that’s the face of our town.”
In addition to maintaining the Town’s grounds and other public areas, volunteers have also taken on more infrastructure related tasks and are even on standby for emergencies. “There’s a few regulatory issues we help with as well,” said Phillips. “The state does periodic audits, and we have been out to help locate meters to help with that.”
“We have also located and repaired water leaks where it was appropriate for us to touch those,” he added. “When we first started, there were a few small seeps around the town Slowly but surely, we were able to knock those out. It’s not just about making things look pretty; it’s also about helping the city be in compliance and improve the integrity of the infrastructure.”
The volunteers have contributed their individual talents and resources, collectively logging more than 400 work hours over the last nine months – and saving the town an estimated $9,000 during that time. It is projected that should the volunteers remain on the same track, they will have logged a total of about 600 hours by the September 30 end of the fiscal year.
“The whole reason we do it is because this is where we grew up – and how we grew up,” said Sharon Gross. “It’s community. It’s giving back. To me, the people who were in this community when we were growing up made us who we are. They taught us these values.”
Mayor Roger Hagan says the volunteers’ work is not only appreciated; it exemplifies the spirit of Wausau.
“The Town appreciates what our volunteers have done for us,” said Hagan. “They have provided a number of services over the last year that have in turn provided a savings to us. We have been able to call them out as though they were employees, each time standing in the gap. This is a good example for what any community can do when they have people who love their community and want to give back to it.”
Phillips agrees. “We love the town. It’s the same reason people started the Development Club and Fun Day years ago and the reason they’re willing to be on the fire department and spend a ridiculous amount of time away from home,” he said. “It’s giving back to our people. We have pride in our town”
The Town is actively looking to hire a new maintenance worker after the last two were unable to fulfill their duties due to personal issues.
While the volunteers are presently an unofficial group, Phillips states they are working with the Town to become more formally organized.
Anyone interested in joining the volunteers’ efforts can reach out to Wausau Town Hall at 850-638-1781.
Staff Report 
Hannah Collins