Merrill mayoral candidates on the ballot clash over housing, taxes, and track records in public forum

Residents gathered at the Northwoods Veterans Post on March 12, 2026, to hear incumbent Mayor Steve Hass and former Mayor Derek Woellner outline their competing visions for the city’s future ahead of the April 7 spring election. Co-hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Northwoods and WJMT radio, the forum covered economic development, taxation, housing, and public safety, among other topics, and addressed questions submitted by readers in advance, as well as some on-the-fly questions at the event. The event was broadcast live on WJMT radio and video streamed on the WJMT channel on YouTube.
In the weeks following the forum, the Merrill Foto News made every effort to fact-check some of the most hotly disputed statements and allegations, based on documented records. Those notations are included in this article.

Taxes, debt, and the Mayor’s salary
When asked how they would reduce the burden on Merrill taxpayers, the candidates offered divergent answers. Woellner was critical of tax increases under the Hass administration, calling a recent 6% tax increase “an insult to taxpayers.” To provide immediate relief, he pledged to cut the Mayor’s salary in half and suggested slowing the City’s aggressive debt repayment schedule. He also said, “I think it’s absolutely bonkers that you’re eliminating police and firemen positions while doubling your own salary.”
Hass noted that his administration has saved the City approximately $500,000 through combining and eliminating positions and said the salary increase was approved by the Council — including Woellner. “He says that I doubled my salary,” Hass said. “That salary was voted on by the Council and the Mayor at the time at the budget.”

Woellner responded, saying, “During my final budget, Steve approached me and asked me to double the salary because he knew he was going to be running. He wanted me to do it for him.”
“That is not true,” Hass said.
Per minutes from the Nov. 9, 2021, Common Council meeting, an ordinance to amend the elected officials salaries was introduced, and then-Alderperson Sabatke moved to raise the annual Mayor’s salary to $25,000. On a roll call vote, the motion carried 6-2. Then-Alderman Steve Hass subsequently made the motion to approve the ordinance as amended, which included additional salary adjustments as well as the salary change for the Mayor, a motion that passed 8-0. The ordinance was signed by then-Mayor Derek Woellner on Nov. 16, 2021, and published Nov. 25, 2021. City Finance Director Emily Ley confirmed, based on payroll records, that prior to the vote, the mayor’s compensation had been an annual salary of $12,600 per a Nov. 8, 2005 ordinance passed 16 years prior. State statute required that compensation for an elective City office be established before the earliest time for filing nomination papers; candidates could not take out papers to run for the 2022-2025 mayoral term until Dec. 1, 2021.
The discussion of finances continued when a resident pointed out that the City’s credit rating had dropped from “AA” to an unrated status during Woellner’s tenure due to extensive borrowing. Woellner said the rating had only fallen to a single A and noted that the resident asking the question had been an Alderman who voted for those same budgets.
Hass committed to continuing to pay down debt and spoke to fiscal practices under his predecessor. “In the past years that the previous Mayor [Woellner] was in, we used general fund offsets to keep the tax rate low,” Hass said. “Plus, we used COVID money for that. We don’t have that anymore. We have to be very smart in how we spend.”
City records confirm that general fund offsets were used to keep tax rates low during Woellner’s tenure: $50,000 in 2019, $30,300 in 2020, and $35,753 in 2021. Additionally, $473,520.54 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were applied in Woellner’s final year, and the same amount — the remaining ARPA balance of $473,520.54 — was used during Hass’s first year, 2022. By 2023, no ARPA funds remained available for that purpose.
On the broader question of debt management, City records show that during Woellner’s four years in office the City used an average of 87.25% of its statutory debt limit each year, ending his tenure with $2,533,343 in remaining borrowing capacity. During Hass’s four years, the City used an average of 63.75% of its debt limit per year, ending his tenure with $15,801,017 in remaining borrowing capacity. See Exhibit A.

Housing development: competing claims
Both candidates agreed that expanding the housing supply is essential to growing the tax base, but disagreed on who deserved credit for recent construction gains.

Woellner advocated for a strategy in which the City actively purchases desirable lots, transfers them to developers, and offers incentives to spur construction. Hass pointed to growth already underway, saying, “We had 47 new homes built in four years and nine new multifamily buildings in the four years that I’ve been Mayor.”
Woellner disputed that framing. “What he fails to say is that most of those were planned during my administration,” he said. “We bought the land. We made the deals with the developers.” He specifically cited the Webster Street development and the lots behind the bowling alley as projects his administration initiated.
Hass disagreed. “That didn’t happen under my opponent’s administration,” he said, arguing that the City’s building momentum has continued under his leadership and that the City continues to offer building incentives.
Building permit records show that during Woellner’s four years in office, the City issued permits for 29 new residential units — 3 in 2018, 2 in 2019, 9 in 2020, and 15 in 2021. During Hass’s four years, the City issued 54 permits — 47 for single-family homes and 7 for duplexes, totaling 14 in 2022, 17 in 2023, 9 in 2024, and 14 in 2025. Hass’s claim of 47 new homes is consistent with single-family permit data; the total figure including duplexes is 54. See Exhibit B.

With regard to which administration executed development agreements, signed agreements on file with the City are as follows: a development agreement with Ott Development & Construction LLC for Johnson Street homes was signed by Mayor Hass on Sept. 7, 2022; an agreement with S.C. Swiderski for Webster Street homes was signed by Mayor Hass on Jan. 23, 2023; an agreement with JJ Premier LLC (Phase 3) was signed by Mayor Hass on May 5, 2023; and an agreement with Wendorf Construction LLC was signed by Mayor Hass on Oct. 11, 2024. Any agreements originating between April 2018 and April 2022 would have been signed by then-Mayor Woellner. This does not, however, address when discussions with developers were necessarily initiated.

Drugs, homelessness, and police staffing
On community issues, Hass expressed support for the current homeless shelter task force and spoke positively about the police department’s drug enforcement efforts. Woellner said he used ARPA funds during his final budget to create a full-time officer position dedicated to drug enforcement, and said that position was subsequently cut. Hass said, “That officer was given up by the police chief at a budget.”
As noted, ARPA funds had all been disbursed by the end of 2022.

Business, retail, and Aldi
On the topic of empty storefronts, Hass described working with the Merrill Chamber of Commerce and the Lincoln County Economic Development director to market available spaces and pursue grants. Regarding a long-rumored Aldi store, Hass explained that the company conducted a six-month study before deciding not to build, citing a lack of available workforce in the area. Woellner noted that it was his administration that negotiated the purchase of the commercial lot Aldi had been considering purchasing.
He also proposed implementing new Business Improvement Districts, in which local businesses pool a portion of their tax dollars toward targeted improvements in their areas.

Tourism, events, and quality of life
To attract young families, Woellner proposed several initiatives, including converting vacant City lots into walking trails, creating “food forests,” adding solar panel carports downtown, and marketing Merrill as the “disc golf capital of the world.”

Hass said the City already struggles to maintain its existing facilities with current staffing levels and cautioned against taking on additional parks.
On local events, Hass responded to a question about the ATV races at the fairgrounds being canceled and noted it was because the organizers lacked proper insurance.
Woellner then called for permanent City ordinances to protect the popular Merrill Ice Draggers events, saying the economic impact is “worth the little headache it causes us.”

City government and the Lincoln County Board
Both candidates opposed merging the part-time Mayor and full-time City Administrator roles. “You get a professional that is running the City and deals with the day-to-day operations ... and then you have the Mayor that runs the Council meetings and helps make the deals,” Hass said. Woellner agreed with the structure, though he acknowledged that his working relationship with the City Administrator during his tenure got off to a rough start, saying, “He threatened to sue me ... but by the end I consider him a friend.”

Woellner was also asked about his attendance at Lincoln County Board of Supervisors meetings. He is currently the Lincoln County Supervisor for District 4. “The current County Board is illegitimate in my eyes,” Woellner said. He accused the new majority of targeting institutions like Pine Crest Nursing Home. “They’re there for an evil agenda,” he said. “They just want to gut the County government.” Woellner said he participates by Zoom only when a vote warrants his attention and that he declines to accept pay for the seat.
The spring election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 7, with early in-person voting already in progress. To watch a replay of the complete mayoral forum event, go to youtube.com/watch?v=liOP1Qi3y0k.