By Wausau Times staff

MARATHON COUNTY – The Marathon County Board Executive Committee is sending an ordinance, that would give the county’s health department added authority over residents, business, and organizations in the event of a COVID outbreak, back to committee.

The action was taken on June 11, after a lengthy discussion fueled by community concerns.

County Board Chair Kurt Gibbs says he’d like to get more input from the community, as well as the Wisconsin Counties Association.

Gibbs added that the purpose of the ordinance was to control the spread of the disease and that we had already received a couple of hundred responses from community residents.

“The intent was to address individuals or businesses that willfully tried to not obey any orders that were put in place and knowingly spread the potential disease,” Gibbs said.

The Wisconsin Counties Association is currently in the process of defining a consistent response to COVID containment, after the Supreme Court decision to remove Governor Evers’ Safer at Home order.

The ordinance will now return to the county’s health and human services committee.

During the June 11 meeting, the executive committee also voted to extend the county’s COVID emergency declaration through the end of the year.