New supervisor appointed to Marathon County Board, filling District 5 vacancy

WAUSAU, Wis. (WXCO) – The Marathon County Board has a new face representing District 5.

The board swore in the new supervisor at a meeting on September 18. 

The District 5 seat became vacant following the death of former supervisor Gary Gisselman in August. Gisselman represented the district on both the county board and the Wausau City Council. The city council began accepting letters of interest for his seat earlier this month.

Now, the county board has chosen Aaron Griner to fill the remainder of Gisselman’s term.

“I love our community, and I would welcome the opportunity to serve on this board in any capacity and put all of my talents and passions into work for the betterment of us all,” Griner said in his statement to the board.

Griner has been a Marathon County resident for nearly eight years. He said while his roots are in a small town in Georgia, he loves living in Wausau. 

“While I may have exchanged red clay roads for red granite-clad county highways, I still feel the same sense of place and belonging now as I always have,” he said.

Griner described himself as a “MacGyver”-type problem solver, which stems from a childhood in a remote area.

“If you had a problem you can’t just run to town to fix it,” he said. “You have to be creative, self-sufficient, try to figure things out like that, and in doing so it really changed how I look at problems in the world.”

Griner’s appointment follows two days of candidate interviews conducted by the Marathon County board last week, including some candidates who had previously sought elected office in Wausau. 

Griner will serve on the board until April 2026, when the District 5 seat will appear on the spring ballot.

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