Meyers Committee results review

11-20-2007

While looking at the WEAU-13 website article, I read through the formal decision made by the Elmwood Fire/Police Commission vs Chief Adam Meyers. I found that information changed from the Hearing to the Testimony to the Formal decision. The following are the changes or false information I found.

1- Page 1, 1 The Police commission was duly appointed properly pursuant to the Village Ordinances and WI Stats. -- This is false, they placed a member of the Village Zoning Board of Appeals on the Committee, which is against the rules of both, Village and State. They also had a member that was associated through business with the board, which again is a violation, due to being employed by the village board, this is also a violation of village ordinance and state stats. Having a conflict of interest with the Committee head for numerous altercations with the Chief was not highlighted in any ordinance, but should have been reviewed by the Board, which never acknowledged the filing at all, yet Bill Stewart stated during the Village Meeting for the creation of the committee, that if there where issues with the members by Adam, then they would need to be replaced. Words that never where followed.

2- Page 1, 6(a) states that Meyers failed to care and maintain the squad car-- all maintenance was kept up, except the tire issue. The electrical was a problem, the battery was a problem, the camera was apparently a problem, but none of those items where repaired when the Village Board new they all where problems as well.

3- Page 2, 6(d) they state that both rear tires where bald, yet in the Hearing they stated that it was both right side tires that where bald, not both rear. even when they numbered the tires for evidence they kept that statement factual, both right side tires, not both rear.

4- Page 2, 6(e) they state that Meyers after speaking to an Elmwood Merchant did not take any actions or follow up on anything-- false, it was stated more than once, and verified by Jodi Pulk, that he did in fact tell her about the tire, and she stated they would deal with it before winter.

5- page 2, 6(f) They stated that Meyers knew of his $500.00 checkbook he could use, this was never stated to Meyers and even the merchants did not know anything about the 500.00 until after the suspension happened.

6- page 2, 7 passing vehicles on the right hand side and almost hitting a pedestrian- I do not believe the testimony by Mr. Wheeler, and it is because he never filed a report after the incident, which he claims was within one arm length of his child. He wrote the statement, after speaking to Jodi Pulk just a week prior to the Hearing, and he never signed the statement, nor did he date it, or have it sworn to, which all are Village Ordinance. He claimed a timeline of two weeks prior to the statement being wrote was the incident, yet Meyers had been off duty for nearly 2 weeks at that point. He also claimed to have no knowledge of the suspension of Meyers, yet it was in the newspaper and it was talk in every business in Elmwood. There was no other evidence to verify this claim.

7-page 3, 7(b) they claim the testimony of David Wheeler was credible- false, and the reasons are stated above.

8- page 3, 7(d) they state the actions by Meyers where dangerous and unnecessary and unlawful, yet they never did verify that any of it happened. No back up testimony and the written statement was in violation of the village ordinance, which would have made it non usable.

9- page 4, 7(i) Harshman citation was released by Meyers at the request of Officer Jaeger-- they gave no credibility to the statement, yet Adam Admitted that he did request the reverse treatment that he gave Jaeger, and Jaeger found it as a chance to hang Meyers. It was noticeable in the testimony, he denied anything that questioned him, yet Meyers admitted to his wrongs. Jaeger was not truthful.

10- page 4, 9(a) Meyers failed to keep schedule and incident reports filed properly- Again Jodi Pulk told him there was no need for filing monthly reports, due to they where placed in the paper weekly, and the schedule was looked at by Bob Rupakus the filing person of these charges, and he clearly stated that he honestly did not know if all the scheduled hours where maintained, which would have thrown the claim out. Meyers statement where clear and convincing that he was directed by Jodi Pulk and Bob Rupakus told him that she was his day to day supervisor, admitted by Bob Rupakus on the stand.

11- page 5, 9(c) Meyers certification was expired and his fault-- false, it is known that the hiring dept. is the responsible party for keeping track of the certifications, and the past Village Board Member even wrote up a comment on a blog, that she knew and every board member should have known that it was their responsibility. When asked by the attorney if he (Meyers) ever filed for the certification before, he replied, Never

12- page 5, 9(c)2 it states that Meyers used poor judgment in taking a warrant and the help of the Menomonie PD and arresting the subject in Menomonie. Any warrant signed by a Judge should be sought out, and when he was informed on her whereabouts, he followed up, and made the arrest. At the same time though, the Village Board had Meyers running to Pepim Co. to give letters of threat to the Owners of the trailer left in pieces in the trailer court after the evictions where completed. They also had Meyers chasing after citizens that where in Pepin Co. that had water bills the Village wanted paid off. Neither of these where listed as problems for the Board, but getting a warrant arrest was?

13- page 5, 9(d) Meyers failed to schedule himself properly after receiving directives and warnings- This was looked at, and the schedules where also looked over, and verified that it did in deed look like he was doing as he was told, and Bob Rupakus again could not honestly state that he in fact did not cover the required set up, he claimed the Meyers did not take part in the homecoming, yet failed to remember that Meyers led the parade with his squad car, so in fact he did participate.

14- page 5, 10(a) Meyers stated he only found out about the part timers being cut in Dec. 2006 from the newspaper was stated to be a lie, yet the newspaper and a resident both verified that the info. was correct, and Susan Dzubay lied on the stand, when she clearly stated more than once, she did not get rid of all the part timers, this was not reported by the village clerk, but the newspaper and resident both stated this in their write ups. This would equal perjury in any legal action, but is being overlooked here. Jodi Pulk also stated in the Dec. 4, 2006 meeting that the part timers where cut, and a full time position may be next. This is on tape, the recording can tell the whole truth, that the board seems to be unable to do.

15- page 5, 10(b) statement that Meyers article was false- this was not true, as above, it was clearly stated by Susan Dzubay that all part timers had been cut, prior to the Dec. 2006 board meeting, and that info. was given at the Dec. 4, 2006 Village Board Meeting. The Pierce Co. Herald reported it, and Rick Talford reported it, in the elmwoodcitizen blogsite. The village clerk on the other hand, did not report it.

16- page 5, 10(c) the statement that Meyers was told he had no part timers because of his salary, was false- My wife and I where at the meeting between Bob Rupakus and Chief Meyers and Bob Weix, on Sept. 29, 2006. In the meeting, Bob R. told Meyers that he would need to keep his part timers hours to 600 hrs or less per year, and never stated anything that they would all be gone by December. This was recorded by my wife and I, on tape.

17- page 5, 10(d) Letter written to fortune 500 magazines and others where presented at the hearing, and it was not proven that they where in deed Meyers written articles, being they did not have any signatures, they also where not corrected for errors, and there where large breaks between paragraphs. Meyers stated on the stand, that he would not, nor could he claim them, when there where so many things wrong with them. They where not on any letterhead paper either.

Besides all of this, there where many stats. that did not get followed as to the guidelines for the committee. Those have been documented in the Elmwood citizen blog.

Every member of the committee went through the final report and signed it, stating that everything in the report was true. You can decide, are they telling the truth?

As of today, 11-21-07 the village Personnel and Finance Committee are meeting at 1 pm to discuss a few things, such as the budget for next year, the employee compensation, and Vicki told me yesterday that they have the # 5 item, just in case Meyers where to send in any paperwork, suing the village. ( Discuss Meyers Settlement Offer- is posted on the agenda as well) From that, I would gather that the village knows that what they have done was not proper, and now they will have a lawsuit to deal with. My assumption, but it is their agenda.

Note--update 11-26-07
The committee met and Bob Rupakus attempted to close the public out of an open meeting, but failed to do so. They did however refuse to speak about the #5 item on the agenda during the meetings open session. I do believe the information was gone over in the closed session, being it was heard from Bob himself, telling another member that Loberg did not want it spoken about , around the public.