WAUPUN — Mayor Rohn Bishop presented a new proposal to the City Council to increase the salaries of elected offices and increase the mayoral terms to three years.
The proposal was brought to the Special Common Council meeting held Wednesday, February 19, 2025. The meeting was held on an unusual date due to the Mayor planning to attend a Public Utilities conference in Washington DC the following week, when the meeting was originally scheduled.
Under the proposal, The mayor’s salary would be increased from $12,000 to $24,000, Alderman salaries from $6,000 to $7,000, and the City Council President to $7,500 per year. The proposal would also change the mayoral term to three years, and establish an annual raise consistent with other city staff. If passed, the proposal would not take effect until May 2026, after both sets of officials faced reelection.
Mayor Bishop said he had been working on the proposal with Alderman Mike Matoushek, who was not in attendance due to being called into work before the meeting.
While the agenda item was under consideration-action in the agenda, Mayor Bishop said he did not expect a vote that night. He also said that the proposal was intentionally dated for May 2026, which would mean all currently in office would have to get reelected before it takes effect.
“Moving forward, if we want people to run for these important local positions I think you need to pay them a little more, and understand that these are important jobs that—eventually, you will get what you’re paying for where mayors ran meetings and nothing else,” he said.
Mayor Bishop then asked for the Council to discuss the proposal.
Alderman Jason Westphal asked about the proposed dates, and why there was a difference for the raises from the May 2026 date and January 2027 date. Bishop said the thinking behind that was the annual raises that are issued to city employees—but he was right in pointing it out in that there might be a state law that requires raises to be annually issued. But the idea was to make it so the aldermen don’t have to continuously vote for their own raises.
“If the alderman and the mayor go up the same percentage every year as the city employees then we don’t have to bring this up every so many years—it’d just happen automatically and it’s taken care of,” Bishop said. “Because I know it’s awkward, no one wants to vote for their own pay raise. But then what happens is you go seven years and you fall way behind inflation.”
“And I know it’s not the only reason why—but I do think one of the reasons no one runs for local office is that it doesn’t pay a lot for all the frustration of the job,” he said.
As for changing the mayoral terms from two-years to three-years, it’ll let the mayor run with a different set of aldermen every cycle. The two-term mayoral term was originally set in 1964, but this caused the mayor to only ever get elected at the same time as the even-numbered districts, which could have an impact on voter turnout.
He also said that while three year terms are unusual, the Waupun Area School District has their School Board seats elected every three years as well. It would also give the mayor more time between elections to enact long-term policy.
“I’ve always argued for a full time mayor, but that ship sailed a long time ago,” he said. “The way it’s currently structured doesn’t need to be full time. However, it’s a whole lot more than part time, and I’d probably argue it’s half time. It’s every day, even on Christmas day I got two phone call complaints about snow removal. It’s a 24/7 thing at times, and I think people should be aware of what it takes.”
He also pointed out that many meetings and events are during normal work hours, and that most working people would not be able to commit to those duties without taking regular days off. Mayor Bishop himself is only able to maintain this schedule himself by being self employed at his car detailing business, where he can choose the hours to work.
“When I was a kid the mayor was always a retired prison guard,” he said. “Those were the only people with the time to do it and they had a pension income that allowed them to do it. People aren’t getting rich off the job, but neither should they have to take out a loan to make ends meet.”
Mayor Bishop also went on to explain that the Council President should also get a raise above the rest of the coucnil because of the increased responsibilities. He pointed out that it isn’t just ceremonial—the Council President holds regular strategy meetings with the City Administrator, and would fill in for the Mayor while they’re out of town, among other responsibilities.
Alderman Westphal then asked for the timeline if the proposal is passed, and how it would impact the salaries of those who would be elected to office this April. Mayor Bishop reiterated that it would only take effect after the following election, but Westphal suggested it could be set even later to give the residents of odd-numbered aldermanic districts another chance for running new candidates.
Alderwoman Bobbi Jo Kunz then asked whether this raise could increase interest in running for office, as only one new individual declared candidacy for the upcoming election in April—Ryan Mielke for the open District 3 seat. Kunz expressed total support for the Mayor’s proposal, especially with all the stress the mayor position has to deal with on a regular basis.
“The people don’t come to us when they should—they’d rather complain to [Mayor] Rohn,” Kunz said. “You know how many times Rohn’s gotta say, ‘Call your alderman,’—are they going to call us? No, they’ll find him out and about at Tony’s Pizza or the Community Center or wherever he is and complain to him regardless of context instead of us.”
Mayor Bishop also said that the Mayor doesn’t get reimbursed for many of the events they attend as the Mayor, including events like the Dueling Pianos during IceFest. He also pointed out that he probably gets more phone calls as the Mayor of Waupun than he did while working at the State Senator’s Office under Dan Feyen.
Alderman Dan Siebers expressed interest in the proposal, but discomfort towards the exact numbers presented. He then asked about the specific job description for the mayoral position, and whether increasing the salary justifies that. Mayor Bishop agreed to bring in a list of bullet points for what he would expect future mayors to do while in office under his proposal.
After a bit of discussion, Alderman Westphal expressed discomfort at the idea of perpetual raises for elected offices.
“It’s a worthy discussion for the public to be involved in when their elected officials think they deserve more money,” Westphal said. “I know it can be a pain in the butt and it keeps getting pushed down the line for years and years and years, but when it comes to the payment of elected officials, my personal opinion is that it’s something that needs to be brought in front of the public so they can have a say in it.”
Westphal also asked whether the City has their own cell phone plans, and whether they could issue the mayor a city-business-only phone whose number is put on the city website—which the mayor could then turn off when unavailable.
Alderwoman Kambria Ledesma, attending virtually, added that the amount she makes while being alderman basically just goes to the babysitter. She pointed out that if the City wants to have younger elected officials, they will need to make it more worthwhile.
No action was taken at the meeting. The topic will likely be brought to a future meeting for further discussion and a vote.
The proposal Mayor Bishop presented in its original language can be found below:
Recommended motion from Mayor Rohn
As of May 2026.
Mayor goes from two year to three-year term. This way the mayor alternates between the even and odd numbered aldermanic districts, and the mayor isn’t always up for re-election. While three-year terms aren’t super common, they are what the WASD board are elected to.
The mayor’s salary goes from $12,000 to $24,000
Alderman salary goes from $6,000 to $7,000 and the Council President goes to $7,500 per year.
Aldermanic and mayoral salaries begin to increase on Jan. 1 of 2027 and every year at the same percentage rate as city employees. This way elected officials don’t have to vote themselves a raise and we don’t keep falling behind.
