WAUPUN — The Waupun City Council met Tuesday, March 25, 2025 to discuss a number of matters including Mayor Rohn Bishop’s proposal to change the mayor’s annual salary and term length.
Mayor Bishop originally brought the proposal to the Council at the previous meeting, which would increase the mayor’s salary from $12,000 to $24,000 and the aldermen salaries from $6,000 to $7,000. After some feedback from the Council and members of the public, the Mayor reallocated some of the proposed salaries to the Fire Department. The new proposal was $18,000 for the mayor, and $6,500 for the aldermen.
Several members of the Council brought up some concerns they had about the proposal, feeling uneasy about voting for their own salaries to increase. Mayor Bishop specifically used this as the reason for the increase, that no one wants to be in hot water for voting for their own raise but arguing that if Waupun wants to have quality leadership they need to be compensated for it.
The Council decided to table the issue for the next meeting. If passed, the changes would not go into effect until after the next mayoral election in 2026.
As for the term length, the Council passed a recommendation to increase the mayoral term from two years to three years, which would make the elections alternate between aldermanic districts in Waupun that would be up for reelection.
Watch here:
Timestamps:
0:00 Opening, Mayor Rohn Bishop
0:59 Alderman Pete Kaczmarski’s first remarks
3:10 Alderman Jason Westphal’s first remarks
4:56 Mayor Bishop and Westphal back and forth
8:28 Alderwoman Bobbi Jo Kunz
9:09 Alderwoman Kambria Ledesma
10:23 Mayor
12:35 Westphal
13:07 Mayor
17:03 Westphal
18:32 Discussion on previous raise
22:40 Alderman Dan Siebers remarks
27:35 Discussion on mayoral responsibilities
30:34 City Attorney Dan Vande Zande
32:00 Motions
35:08 Mayoral Term Length Discussion
