UPDATE: Jennings resigned from District 1 seat early Thursday morning

Editor’s Note: While Jennings did not respond to our request for a comment on her resignation, she did email the newsroom to express her dissatisfaction that we disclosed her relocation to Park Ridge, calling it “private information about a non-public figure.” We used the information provided by Mayor Mike Wiza to provide additional context to the sudden, immediate, and unexplained resignation of a longtime Councilmember, just as we reported the 2019 resignation of longtime Councilman Mike Phillips, who moved to Whiting after growing frustrated with the new Council focus on arts and social issues. 

By Brandi Makuski

Stevens Point Councilwoman Tori Jennings has submitted her resignation to Mayor Mike Wiza.

Wiza on Thursday morning said the resignation would take effect immediately. A message seeking comment from Jennings was not immediately returned.

Jennings emailed Wiza at 7:08 a.m. on Aug. 19 with a message that only read, “Dear Mayor Wiza, Please accept this email as my formal resignation from City Council effective immediately. Sincerely, Tori Jennings.”

Wiza said he was expecting the news for “a while.”

“She bought a house in Park Ridge and she’s closing on her Stevens Point house on August 30,” he said, adding he is now focused on refilling the seat as quickly as possible.

“As a mayor, I think people have lives, these are part-time jobs, and she’s moved on,” Wiza said. “It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time.”

Jennings made a splash locally before ever winning her first term in April 2017, having been appointed to a newly-created Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (which has since been renamed as the Bicycle and Street Safety Commission) in 2015. She gave a presentation on the benefits of road diets to both the city council and during a public meeting in the village of Whiting, though the latter was not well received by residents there.

Jennings then wrote a successful grant application for a Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grant from the Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation. The grant covered 80 percent of the costs of 13.2 miles of new bicycle lanes across the city, which were finally installed in August and September, though the project came in about $226,000 over budget.

Jennings also helped introduce Cycling Without Age, a nonprofit group that uses special “trishaws” to help elderly or disabled residents ride a bicycle safely.

Jennings is also heavily involved in the Revisioning Point, which describes itself as “a grassroots effort aimed at enhancing the livability, appearance, and economy of Stevens Point for generations to come.”

Since joining the city council, Jennings has introduced ordinances prohibiting excessive noise and doorstep scattering (dropping free newspapers on every home’s front step), though neither were approved. Jennings also helped develop a downtown parklet program and fought hard to transition BPAC from an ad hoc committee into the Bicycle and Pedestrian Street Safety Commission, which she felt gave the group a little more credibility.

Jennings also argued in favor of changing the mayoral appointment process naming committee chair positions each year, ultimately putting that authority into the hands of the committees themselves. She was also instrumental in pushing through a controversial road diet on Stanley St. in 2018.

Jennings has lived in Stevens Point since 2010 and holds a doctorate in anthropology from UW-Madison. She recently retired from UWSP and previously lived in Littleton, Colo., where she served for 13 years in the fire department.