June 2012 Elmwood Report

Walker, Kleefisch get majority vote in Elmwood




Submitted by Rick A. Talford

Citizen Journalist



ELMWOOD, WI - The Elmwood Village Board met on Monday, June 11, 2012 at the Village Auditorium. The results of the June 5, 2012 Election, left Governor Scott Walker still in his seat with 168 votes. Tom Barrett received 155 from the Elmwood voters. LT. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch received 158 votes and Mahlon Mitchell was very close behind with 157. Voter turnout was at sixty-seven percent, with 327 voters out of 483 possible.



In Public Input, resident Marty Reinier spoke to the board, and thanked everyone for a huge success with the dedication of Veteran’s Park. He also told the board that a family wanted to provide a donation of a picnic shelter (20x32) and a fire pit, to do public flag disposal in the park. The board will send this forward to the public works committee for discussion.



In other news, the Public Works Director Jamie Reitz provided information on the (CMAR) Compliance Maintenance Annual Report. He stated “There are no deficiencies” The Winter Avenue paving project was back on the agenda this month, and the paving was approved for Winter Ave,. from Clark Street to Spruce Street. The cost will be near $35,000, with $15,694 being reimbursed from the LRIP Funds.



There were a number of Operator’s Licenses approved this month. Merlin Caldwell and Mary Kirkevold at the Longbranch. Mike Burke, Halee Engeldinger and Nikole Awsumb at Tiffany’s Tavern. The Operator’s Licenses for the upcoming UFO Days were also approved. The board approved the lifting of the open container ordinance for UFO Days as well. It has also been noted that there will not be any fireworks this year at the end of UFO Days. The Combination Class B Liquor/Beverage Licenses for Longbranch, Tiffany’s, Sandbar and Cenex were all approved, with Cenex getting a new Class A Liquor License.



A brief discussion over the library situation was held, with it being acknowledged that the checking account was closed, as requested by the board. As reported in recent papers, Librarian Jayne Garaets has been terminated, as of June 11, 2012 from the Elmwood Library. The termination was rescinded and then re-instated a week later. Both aides, Deb Helmer and Linda Webber resigned the end of May. Helmer and Webber were employed at the library for fourteen years. There are numerous allegations for the termination. Falsifying documents, including timesheets and forging the library board presidents signature are among the list of allegations at this time. In communications with the Library Board President Sandra Weix, I was contacted by email with the following information: “Four months ago concerns about certain library practices at the Elmwood Library were brought to the attention of the library board by the Elmwood village council. We have subsequently made an extensive evaluation of our library's management which culminated in a hearing on those matters on June 19, 2012. Evidence and testimony presented at that hearing lead to the finding that there was a pattern of management practices that the board found unacceptable and the board found it necessary to dismiss Jayne Geraets, the librarian, in order to move forward. We have been fortunate to secure the services of Christy Rundquist, the Pepin librarian, to serve as our interim director while we conduct a search for a new director. Library hours and activities such as story hour will continue with very little disruption during this interim. Qualified persons interested in applying for the position of library director can find further information on the library web site www.elmwoodlibrary.org”


In Committee and Board Reports, the information from the library was provided by Trustee Trisha Knops. She spoke of the two aides resignations, and the need to hire one library aide in the near future. Knops also told the board there would be a nursing home committee meeting on June 12. Trustee Mike Sand told the board that the public works committee met with Ron Webb, Director of Soil Conservation. They discussed the water problems they are having at Butternut Park. Trustee Brian Buck then spoke to the board. The police committee met in a Closed Session meeting prior to the board meeting, to discuss “Performance Issues” with Elmwood Officer Matt Broehm. I did reach Trustee Brian Buck from the Elmwood Village Board (Police Committee Chair) As to the issue with officer Broehm, I received the following email: “All of the information is public record and can be viewed by our residents at any time. At first we moved to suspend him for a week but needed to rescind that motion because he was not on a probationary status first. That was my error and we fixed it promptly. We discussed him needing to improve with his dedication to the village and making sure he is at scheduled events when he is needed. We discussed the concerns about the police vehicle leaving the village limits without request from county officials. We also discussed him complying with our motion to have him work at least one night per weekend. He was given an evaluation and an improvement plan. He was put on probation for 90 days”. There were no reports for the following committees: Parks / Buildings and Personnel / Finance.



The meeting adjourned at 7:38 PM.