Change was a common theme for most of the top stories that made headlines in this year’s Shawano Leader.
Good, bad or indifferent, changes came in the form of new buildings, new policies and new leaders. The city of Shawano and the Shawano School District broke ground on new facilities while Shawano County is figuring out what to do with the revelation that it will cost more than $300 million to build a new justice center, library and government offices.
The sticker shock was upstaged by six county directors stepping off the public stage. A county supervisor almost lost his seat on the board but was given the boot from the ethics committee.
Meanwhile, new laws are in place for off-road vehicles operating on city and county streets, while a state representative looks to make it tougher for the city and county to implement wheel taxes.
These stories and more made the top 10 for the Leader. Here’s a look at the breakdown:
1. Rec center breaks ground
The city of Shawano closed out 2024 with the news that it had received a $4.25 million grant from the state’s Flexible Facilities Program to renovate its recreation center, adding about 5,000 square feet to the existing building and including improved locker rooms, weight rooms and even community spaces for technology, something lacking in most city spaces.
The recreation center was originally built in the 1960s, and the aging systems contributed to an incident in January where the center had to close for a few days due to difficulties maintaining warm temperatures in the building and pool. One part of the plan includes putting the entire center under a single system for heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
There were some concerns in the first few months about the first phase plans not including racquetball courts like what had originally been in place. There was also some sticker shock when bids came back about $1 million above the funding available from the grant. So the Shawano Common Council voted to delay some future capital improvements and fill the gap to get the recreation center completed, as the project must be completed by September 2026 in order to use the grant money.
The recreation center closed in June as ground broke on the renovations and additions. Work is expected to be completed by June 2026.
2. Mass exodus from county
Shawano County saw much of its top brass step down in 2025, from the administrative coordinator to elected positions like the county clerk and county treasurer.
Jim Davel announced in July he planned to step down as administrative coordinator by this January after serving five years in the position and working for the county as emergency management coordinator before that. He moved up his last day to the end of October after accepting a new job as village administrator in Kronenwetter. Since then, Julie Hasser, human resources director, has been filling the post.
The county is still determining what to do to fill the vacant post, with some feeling it may not need to be a full-time position. Something under consideration is splitting up the coordinator’s duties with the finance director and human resources director, with all three reporting to the county’s executive committee.
Five other county leaders submitted their resignations. Steve Dreher retired from the county at the beginning of January after 30 years as facilities manager. Kimberly Gierach resigned as zoning administrator in March after only seven months with the county; Carrie Buntjer left the county in May after serving four years as the finance director. Kara Skarlupka stepped down as county clerk in July, and finally, Deb Wallace left the county after serving as county treasurer.
3. McLaughlin remains identified, buried
The remains of a Shawano man killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, have been identified more than 80 years after his death. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced May 20 that U.S. Army Air Forces Pvt. Herbert E. McLaughlin, 31, of Shawano, was accounted for on Dec. 17, 2024.
During World War II, McLaughlin was assigned to Headquarters Squadron, 17th Air Group, at Hickam Airfield on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. On Dec. 7, 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese aircraft expanded to Hickam Field, targeting U.S. aircraft, ships, barracks, supply buildings and the base chapel. McLaughlin was killed there.
A handful of family members were joined by a couple hundred Shawano residents Aug. 9 as they all paid their respects and said goodbye to McLaughlin. He was buried with full military honors in the veterans circle near the chapel at Woodlawn Cemetery. Dean Seher, McLaughlin’s next of kin, said McLaughlin’s mother, Mary, always wanted to be buried next to him. Today, they are just a few hundred feet apart.
Dozens of Shawano veterans were joined by members of the Rolling Thunder, the motorcycle group that provided an escort for McLaughlin from Milwaukee to Shawano. A few veterans also volunteered to stand guard by the casket during the few days it was at Swedberg Funeral Home. Local VFW Post 2723 bears his name and opened a new building on Veterans Day.
4. Hammett survives ethics hearing
A Shawano County supervisor claiming money was missing from the county coffers narrowly avoided losing his seat on the board in December, although his fellow supervisors voted to remove him from the ethics committee as they look at revamping the committee to have all citizens and no supervisors.
Hammett was accused of promoting his business on a business card that also noted his position as a county supervisor, thereby suggesting a connection between the two; attempting to use his post to circumvent county board rules in trying to set up a special board meeting when he knew he had no authority to do so; and demonstrating disloyalty to the board and county employees by sharing unauthorized confidential personnel information with supervisors, the media and the public.
Hammett further questioned an alleged missing $1 million from the county treasury, causing unnecessary discord and disrespect among elected and appointed officials, according to the accusations. Several residents, prior to the vote on keeping Hammett on the board, accused County Board Chairman Tom Kautza of having a personal vendetta against him.
“While his procedure may have been awkward, his intention to fix the problems was not,” said Tim Steffen, of Bowler. “The board chairman, former county administrator, former county clerk retaliated by filing ethics complaints against Supervisor Hammett and, in doing so, damaged and defamed him.”
5. Bonduel moving forward, gets state attention
After years of looking like a dormant community, the village of Bonduel is showing signs of life. Several housing developments are being built in the community, and village officials are trying to fill vacant storefronts with the help of its redevelopment authority. This has been getting attention from the state.
Construction work started in July on the Bear Trail Crossing apartment complex near Kwik Trip. Once finished, 48 two-bedroom apartments are expected to help ease demand for housing in the community. Seven homes are being finished elsewhere in Bonduel, with six of them being sold for an average price of $450,000.
On the business side of things, the village is trying to work with building owners to deal with the 17 vacant buildings in the village, most of them in the downtown area. So far, the village has approved $40,000 of the $100,000 received from the state for façade grants, but some building owners have claimed their previous efforts to start businesses were blocked, either by the state or by the village.
Bonduel’s efforts to grow grabbed the attention of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation in December when Deputy Secretary Sam Rikkers paid a visit after the village was accepted into WEDC’s Connect Communities program earlier this year. Gov. Tony Evers also paid a visit outside the village to Porter’s Patch, a player in the region’s agritourism.
6. Referendum work on schools begins
Getting a $51.2 million referendum approved by voters in November 2024, the actual work on making the schools in the Shawano School District better and more modernized began in earnest in 2025.
Breaking ground in May, the district saw improvements made to Hillcrest Primary School, Olga Brener Intermediate School and, to a lesser degree, the Shawano Community Middle School. A new district office was built at Olga Brener and opened its doors in December to make room for turning the old offices at Shawano Community High School into expanded weight facilities.
The high school improvements began in September with creating an improved stadium for football, soccer and track. New classrooms for family consumer sciences are also underway. Improvements to performing arts and technical education facilities are also due to begin in 2026 while all classrooms will be updated to reflect 21st century education.
7. County gets $300M sticker shock
Shawano County has been looking at building a new justice center and county office for years as its current courthouse, built in the 1950s, is getting more and more expensive to maintain, but it appears the cost of starting from scratch will cost about $300 million to make happen.
Building everything new would cost $308 million, said Kurt Berner, of The Samuels Group, when he addressed the public property committee Oct. 16. The first option is the total replacement of the jail, sheriff’s department, justice center, government offices and library. The justice center is going to deal with the jail, the sheriff’s office, the courts and its support offices and the work release center.
There is also a possibility of building the government offices adjacent to the human services building on Anderson Avenue. Another alternative with this option would be to place the new library next to the government offices if they are built west of the courthouse. A final option would be to only renovate the current courthouse.
8. Menominee open community kitchen
Menominee tribal members engaged in big food projects or who want to host larger quantities of people for feasts have a place to do so now. A new community kitchen, taking up the space that used to be the old recreation center in Keshena, held an open house Sept. 20.
Besides canning, there are freeze-drying and dehydrating machines that can help with food preservation. This will be a benefit to hunters especially, she said, as they look for ways to avoid spoilage of the game they track down. The kitchen cost the tribe about $100,000 to construct in the old recreation center.
Besides the prep area, the kitchen also has a walk-in cooler and a separate walk-in freezer. The facility is powered by an array of solar panels outside, saving the tribe about $10,000 on energy costs annually. This also means that when a storm knocks out electricity to homes, the community kitchen will still have the power on and be able to help store people’s food when their refrigeration systems are out of commission.
9. City, county adopt ATV, UTV laws
With several accidents involving teen operators and adults using them to circumvent not having a license due to OWI, the city of Shawano and Shawano County took steps to tighten rules and regulations for all-terrain vehicles and utility-terrain vehicles in 2025.
The county passed rules in September requiring that operators have a valid driver’s license to operate. According the ordinance, anyone 16 or older must possess a valid driver’s license to operate an ATV or UTV on a county highway. The driver must also have the license with him or her while driving on county roads. Anyone younger than 16 may operate an ATV on a designated county route only if he or she is accompanied by his or her parent or guardian.
The city passed a similar ordinance in November on a split vote.
10. Behnke authors wheel tax legislation
Rep. Elijah Behnke is working on a bill that will make it tougher for counties and other municipalities to enact wheel taxes to compensate for revenue caps set by the state in the wake of the city of Shawano creating a wheel tax in 2024 and Shawano County rejecting a proposal for its own $20 wheel tax this year.
Behnke’s legislation would require a referendum take place during a regularly scheduled election to get voters approval for any future wheel tax plans. However, current wheel taxes in place are not immune, as the bill requires counties and municipalities to call for a referendum within 18 months or be forced to repeal the taxes.
Whether the bill becomes law or not is tough to say, with the state Senate limiting the times it meets before formally adjourning in February. Behnke said he feels he and his constituents are being overtaxed, especially with property taxes getting out of control.
