Village Board member demands apology from president
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The June 6 meeting of the East Troy Village Board started off with a bang when Trustee Ann Zess left her seat and came up to the podium during the citizen participation and demanded an apology from board President Randy Timms for calling her a liar at the May 23 meeting.
“At the last Village Board meeting I was accused by our village president of lying about a statement I made in the meeting regarding his comment at the May 16 meeting that he was busy with county stuff and therefore had not had time to go over some village information provided to him,” Zess said.
Zess didn’t receive an apology, even after she played a recording of the May 16 statement by Timms where he said he didn’t have time to look at something because he was at a County Board meeting. Timms is also a Walworth County Board supervisor.
Zess also didn’t receive an apology in the letter to the editor from Timms in last week’s edition.
Zess said at the June 6 meeting that because Timms’ accusation appeared in the newspaper, she wanted a correction printed in the paper as well.
In Timms’ letter he offers an explanation as to why he didn’t have time to read the information before the May 16 meeting, and he says accusing Zess of “lying” was “Perhaps not my best moment,” but doesn’t apologize.
In fact, Timms specifically states his letter to the editor is not an apology because “I have nothing to apologize for because I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Tensions between some board members have been high lately with disagreements over multiple agenda items, most recently the continued funding of the East Troy Community Development Alliance and Timms’ extra duties with the village.
“It is unfortunate that certain members of this board take disagreements personally and are unwilling to realize that respectful disagreements on a board are normal and expected,” Zess told the board Monday night. “I just read a great quote this weekend and it states – we should never all agree on everything, and in a perfect world we would all be comfortable with disagreeing.”
Keating recognized
East Troy’s Ben Keating was honored by the village and Police Department for his work on creating the new logo and PD’s new patch at last week’s meeting.
Keating, who donated all his time creating the artwork for the village, was recognized by the village with a resolution stating how much his hard work was appreciated. Timms commended Keating on his dedication and willingness to work with the village to make sure the new logo was exactly what it needed.
Police Chief Alan Boyes also presented Keating with the first new police uniform patch off the embroidery line that had been framed.
The new police patch will be brought into use sometime this summer, according to Boyes.
Liquor licenses granted
The Village Board approved liquor licenses June 6 for: East Troy Mobile, Frank’s Liquor, East Troy Shell, East Troy BP, Troy Liquor, Road Ranger, Dollar General, East Troy House/Ivan’s Backstage, The Grist Mill, Dos Amigos 2, Al Smith’s Saloon, Sammy’s Place, Princess Café and Genoa’s Pizza.
The board approved special event and liquor licenses for the Lions Club Fourth of July festival and to St. Peter’s Church and School for its Kick-off Summer Event.
The board also approved the special event application for the NAMI Racine Bike N Hike event on the village square Sept. 11.
