By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
The Village of East Troy has agreed to pay and former village administrator Judy Weter $42,983.20 in back wages after reaching a settlement agreement with Weter through mediation.
Weter’s position of village administrator was eliminated on Nov. 4, 2013. At the time, Village Board President Randy Timms said the move was a cost-cutting measure and the village wasn’t required to have an administrator.
Eileen Suhm, who was the deputy clerk, was promoted to acting clerk-treasurer, a position which later become permanent.
In January, Weter, who worked for the village for 11 years, filed a Notice of Claim with the Village of East Troy, outline her grievances and demands for compensation, in what she claimed was an unfair dismissal from her position.
In the Notice of Claim, Weter states that prior to her Nov. 5, 2013, dismissal no one on the Village Board gave her any indication her performance was lacking and that in January of 2013 she was told that if the administrator position was eliminated and the village moved to a clerk-treasurer only, that she could have the job.
The claim states that Weter was told by Timms on Sept. 23, 2013, that “everything was okay in having the combined positions of village administrator and clerk-treasurer.”
In the claim, Weter says that conflicting requests from certain board members caused her to fall into “political disfavor” with some of the board members and make it difficult to do her job.
Weter’s claim states that the actions of the Village Board and her dismissal “wrongfully cast her within the small community of the Village of East Troy as not being worth to remain in a position of public trust thereby damaging her good reputation, causing her unwarranted embarrassment and avoidance by other individuals in the community.”
The Notice of Claim also included allegations of improperly held meetings and actions by the Village Board members, which Weter wanted stopped and the village fined for.
Weter also demanded her back wages in the amount of $34,465 to cover the time from her Nov. 4, 2013, dismissal to Feb. 22, 2014. She asked for payment of damages to her reputation and good name in the amount of $25,000. Payment of consequential damages for the breach of her contract in the amount of $25,000. And payment of damages for the denial of her constitutional due process rights and liberty and property interested in the amount of $250,000.
The total amount of her claim against the village in the Notice of Claim dated Jan. 31, 2014, was $334,465.
The Aug. 12 settlement agreement releases the village from further claims in the matter and states the settlement amount of $42,983.20 is to be paid to Weter as back wages in a payroll draft, subject to all applicable withholding and taxes.
