Village Board votes to defund economic development association
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The East Troy Village Board voted 4-3 to defund the East Troy Community Development Alliance at Monday night’s regular meeting.
The motion was brought forth by Trustee Dusty Stanford, who has been vocal about his belief that the ETCDA hasn’t produced the results the village is looking for. The motion also included language that would allow the village to “take back” the unspent funds from the village and use it for other economic development.
Stanford said he had repeatedly asked for a detailed accounting of what the ETCDA has spent in its quarterly report to the board and was “disappointed” in what the alliance presented at Monday night’s meeting.
Members of the alliance in the audience, including ETCDA President Paul Nyffeler, disputed whether Stanford had asked for a “detailed” financial report, but would provide one if the board wanted.
“Being a public entity, we need to know where the dollars are going,” Stanford said.
Trustee Matt Johnson said he disagreed with Stanford as to the ETCDA’s effectiveness and motioned to allow alliance member John Jacoby to give a presentation on the ETCDA’s accomplishments and future plans.
Jacoby outlined the alliance’s work on the group’s website, promotional events, branding, the Connect Communities initiative and the new Operation East Troy the group was working on, to name a few. He gave a forecast of the 2017 plans and projected costs for those efforts.
Jacoby’s presentation was ended after 11 minutes when board President Randy Timms said the allotted time for the presentation was 3 minutes and they had gone over that.
Stanford reiterated his stance on the alliance’s “lack of results” and called the group out for being “argumentative” and “disrespectful” to the board.
“I’ve heard that if a person pushes back against this group, they will do everything in their power to make sure they don’t get re-elected,” Stanford said. “That’s disrespectful to the board.”
Trustee Ann Zess questioned the future of economic development in the village if the group was defunded being that Timms’ expanded role for the same purpose comes to an end in April with the next election.
“If we say ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to the EDC and Randy’s extra position contractually ends in April with the end of his term who is going to promote the village’s interests in terms of economic development?” she asked.
Stanford said his motion wasn’t going to end economic development efforts in the village, his motion also included language to hire a part-time professional to do that job.
Johnson said he had seen how contentious the relationship with the board and the alliance was in the six months he had been on the board and even before, but thought the group had hit its stride and wanted to see that relationship continue.
Zess said the relationship with the village and the alliance was “strained” because of Stanford’s repeated efforts to defund the group over the past two years.
Stanford again said his issue with the alliance was the lack of “tangible results.”
Timms interrupted the discussion at this point and said they weren’t there to rehash the issue, but to vote on the motion on the floor.
“People in the community are very passionate about this, (people) on the board too,” Trustee Scott Seager said. “The big difference is we have to be fiscally responsible here.”
Seager told the alliance members that he thought a professional hired by the village would be an asset to the ETCDA and be able to help them. “I think we need someone who does this every day – it doesn’t have to be Randy Timms.”
The motion to defund the alliance passed with Timms, Stanford, Seager and Trustee Fred Douglass voting yes and Zess, Trustee Forty Renucci and Johnson voting no.
See the letter to the editor on Page 6 for the response from members of the ETCDA.
Budget discussions
The Village Board finalized the operating and capital budgets for 2017 Monday, after several weeks of cuts to balance the budget.
Among the many cuts was the additional full-time police officer Chief Alan Boyes asked for recently. The board’s approval of that position had been contingent upon having money in the budget, which the village doesn’t at this time.
Zess asked if the full year’s pay for Timms’ expanded role was in next year’s budget because it technically ended in April. She asked if they should only fund that position until April.
Stanford said Timms had proven his effectiveness in the role and it might be extended if he was re-elected, but even if he wasn’t, that money could be used for other economic development efforts.
Timms said it was something the board could discuss again early next year.
Zess agreed, saying she only brought it up now because they were discussing the budget.
