Antigo Mayor Terry Brand to resign

ANTIGO — Antigo Mayor Terry Brand sent a letter to the city council Monday morning announcing he will resign from his position.

In the letter, Brand indicated that he and his family will move to Summit Lake and put their Antigo home up for sale.

“In the spirit of being open, honest and transparent, having to hold myself to the same standards I’ve expected of aldermen, that being present in the city the majority of the time is a requirement, I am resigning from my position as mayor with my last day in office being Friday, June 28,” Brand wrote in the letter.

Brand could not be immediately reached for further comment.

According to City of Antigo Clerk and Treasurer Kaye Matucheski, Brand, who was elected just over a year ago in April 2023, will likely be replaced temporarily by Fourth Ward Alderman Tom Bauknecht, who is also the city council president.

Both Matucheski and Bauknecht said that if he is officially designated as temporary mayor by the council, he will no longer be able to vote on measures brought before the common council.

“I can vote on committees, but on the full council, we’re going to have to get a replacement in my ward, so there will be a vacancy there,” Bauknecht said. “But the mayor doesn’t get a vote, so I think I won’t be able to vote, except on ties.”

Bauknecht said the council may choose to designate him as the city’s mayor soon for the sake of maintaining continuity.

“I don’t think they’ve scheduled anything yet to designate me as the pro-tem or the mayor, so that’s going to happen pretty soon,” he said. “I’m thinking that there will probably be a meeting called before the July common council meeting to make the transfer a little easier.”

Bauknecht’s temporary term would last until April 2025, when Brand’s term was set to expire.