A weekly update with Stevens Point mayor Mike Wiza

By Taylor J. Hale

Mayor Mike Wiza sat down with Gazette staff to give an update on Stevens Point developments.

Wiza touched on changes coming to Iverson Parks Winter Sports Area, the downtown ice rink, and more.

City hosts Halloween costume contest

Wiza said that staff is tallying the final votes for the city’s Halloween home decor and costume contest and that he expects to send out prizes this week. The mayor added that there was less public participation than expected, so the bulk of participants would be receiving an award.

The contest came about after Wiza was looking for alternatives to traditional trick-or-treating due to COVID-19 concerns. Participants were asked to post their photos on a city managed Facebook page.

Iverson Park winter sports area changes

City leaders will discussed modifying how the Iverson Park Winter Sports Area will be utilized this winter due to COVID-19, at a Nov. 4 Parks board meeting.

Wiza said the changes should be straight forward and follow CDC guidelines on social distancing.

“We’re not going to have people congregating in the warming house at full capacity,” Wiza explained. “I like to think the warming house will be open, but I’m not sure it will be open with the number of cases we have in the city, and it’s clearly not going down.”

Wiza added that the board would likely make a recommendation on closing or reopening the warming shelter.

Results of the meeting were not available at publishing this edition.

Downtown Ice Rink

Wiza noted that COVID-19 has not slowed down plans to pour an ice rink in the downtown square as soon as weather permits.

“The intention is to have the ice rink up, but we have to have the right weather. It needs to be cold enough for a long enough period,” Wiza said. “But it should be going up yet.”

Wiza said the city would start work on the ice rink as soon as colder temperatures settle in for the winter.