Joint HR merger hung up on details

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) – An agreement between Wausau and Marathon County to merge human resource departments is at risk of failing because of key details the city wants included in the deal.

The county's executive committee will not agree to the four measures Mayor Jim Tipple raised and voted Tuesday to require him to sign the intergovernmental agreement by August 16th or else the deal will fall through for 2011.

“We can't be held in limbo by them,” said county board supervisor Gary Wyman. He said the deadline is important because the county administrator and finance director will begin meeting with department heads Monday to prepare next year's budget.

But Tipple won't sign the agreement until the county agrees to measures that would, in part, let the city retain its two human resource positions and maintain an HR office at city hall. The city also wants to keep administering its own employee benefits and to evaluate the county's human resources director each year.

“Signing an agreement without any details supporting it is like signing a blank check,” Tipple said. “We have to be cost conscious and responsible to our taxpayers and the employees I represent.”

Wausau has been without a human resources director since June 2008, when Bill Nagle retired.

County human resources director Frank Matel, who would manage the joint department if it's created, fears that letting the city keep its two HR positions could create an uneven playing field.

“It's not an ideal situation,” Matel said. “It would undermine a team philosophy I run in my department.”

Tipple says it doesn't matter where the two HR positions draw their paycheck from but says having them on the city payroll would make it easier for the city to keep them in case the merger ends.