Former council president says staff let lead pipe ordinance stall, then blamed alders for lost forgiveness

By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review WAUSAU — A former Wausau City Council president says city staff, not alders, let a lead pipe ordinance stall for two years, then blamed the council for lost state loan forgiveness. “Waiting until the matter is on fire and then blaming the council is a cop out,” Lisa Rasmussen wrote in a public comment responding to a Wausau Pilot & Review story on social media. Rasmussen was council president most recently from April 2024 until she lost her seat in April 2026. In a Nov. 4 memo, Public Works and Utilities Director Eric Lindman wrote that Wausau’s 2027 lead pipe project scored too low for state principal forgiveness because the council “did not pass the LSLR Ordinance prior to the application submission,” the Pilot reported last week. A citywide project saw no forgiveness, and $4.1 million for homeowners’ lines came as a loan instead. The dispute matters for taxpayers.

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