As the Marinette City Council weighed legal options stemming from a court ruling finding in favor of a plaintiff, the city’s mayor said Marinette has spent $240,000 on the 2020 Open Meetings lawsuit.
According to a Feb. 28, 2025 piece written by Dan Kitkowski in the Marinette EagleHerald, Marinette
is weighing its legal options after a Wisconsin appeals court ruled the Common Council violated the state’s Open Meetings Law with two closed sessions in 2020 discussing PFAS issues, Mayor Steve Genisot said in a statement.
Alderman Doug Oitzinger brought the suit, claiming that meetings on Oct. 6 and 7, 2020, violated the Open Meetings Law. A circuit court ruled one meeting did violate the law, but the other did not. The appeals followed.
In a follow-up with the EagleHerald, Genisot emphasized what was provided in the statement. He added the council voted unanimously to go into closed session for the two meetings in question.
“We had a unanimous decision to go into closed session, including Doug, let’s not forget that,” he said. “It took him one year to consider the lawsuit.”
Genisot said the city has spent about $240,000 on this lawsuit. While the money is paid by the city’s insurance company, the city’s premiums increased by 25% as a result of the lawsuit, with deductibles increasing from $3,000 to $25,000, according to the article.
