Conflicts create adversity for Village Board
By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
The Oct. 17 meeting of the East Troy Village Board started off with resident John Jacoby vowing to question the board and its actions on a regular basis.
“I’m going to come to every meeting and speak my 3 minutes every week,” he told the board.
Jacoby said he was angry at recent Plan Commission and Village Board decisions including the defunding of the East Troy Community Development Alliance, of which he is a member. He also told the board members he thought the letters to the editor by some of its members in last week’s newspaper were “not factual, inflammatory and degrading.”
Jacoby said he felt disrespected by some of the board members and that as a resident he wasn’t being represented by the board.
Repairing the dam
The Village Board approved an $18,590 contract with Dynamic Contracting to repair the dam on East Troy Lake, which was drawn down last October for inspection and repairs.
Department of Public Works Director Jason Equitz asked the board for direction on the project as the original contractor, Pro-Axis, told him they wouldn’t have time to do the work by the end of the year.
The Department of Natural Resources gave the village until the end of 2017 to make the repairs, but to do them next year, the village might have had to refill the lake and draw it down again next year, unless the DNR approved leaving it drawn down for another year.
Equitz said he had a verbal approval for that from the DNR, but nothing in writing.
Equitz said the owners on the lake had been “very patient” during the year-long process and they had been told they lake would be refilled in October, but to do so would mean paying more for the dam repairs this year, as the original quote from Pro-Axis was about $13,000. He said the other options would be for the DPW to do the work in house next year for about $10,000 or rebid the project next year and see if the bids came in lower.
The board discussed the options and weighed the pros and cons, but in the end decided to have the work done this fall.
Equitz said work on the dam repairs would begin next week.
Up in the air
The Village Board approved the appointment of Jim Stemper to the Airport Advisory Committee Monday. Ben Keating also applied for the open committee position.
Stemper had been contacted by Village Board President Randy Timms about the committee position.
Timms said Stemper came to me in March wanting to volunteer for the Plan Commission because he had experience on it, but Timms was planning on appointing former trustee Linda Kaplan to that position because she also was experienced. Timms said he told Stemper he’d keep him in mind for the future.
“When the Airport Advisory Committee position came up, I spaced out on it and didn’t remember about our conversation until recently,” Timms said.
Stemper and Keating both spoke about what they felt they could bring to the committee in citizen participation.
Stemper said he didn’t have a background in aviation and he wouldn’t be able to bring much in the beginning but after having time to get up to speed, he felt he would be an asset.
Keating again outlined his background with aviation, coming from an aviation family. He said he loved flight, but didn’t love flying.
Trustee Forty Renucci said while Keating should be on the committee, it should be in the member-at-large role, because that position was designed to not be someone in aviation. Trustee Dusty Stanford agreed.
“I agree that you should probably be on the committee at some point,” Stanford said.
Trustees Matt Johnson and Scott Seager said they didn’t see the wisdom in specifically not appointing someone because they had knowledge of aviation.
The board voted 4-3 to appoint Stemper, with Timms, Douglass, Renucci and Stanford voting yes, and Trustee Ann Zess, Johnson and Seager voting no.
Sitting at the top
The Village Board, at the request of Seager, discussed the possibility of lowering the height of the two center desks in the boardroom to match the height of the other desks.
Seager said in his line of work he’s been in a lot of municipal boardrooms and the desk configuration in East Troy was “unique.”
“It’s almost the appearance that one vote is more important than the others,” Seager said, referring to the fact that Timms sits at one of the raised desks along with Village Administrator Eileen Suhm.
Village Attorney Linda Gray said the desks were configured that way because it’s a multipurpose room and also used for the Municipal Court and the judge sits higher. She quoted a state statue on desk heights for courtrooms.
Seager countered her argument with research he had done on this issue, which basically said those statutes were a “suggestion” at the municipal level and the village could change the desk heights. Gray agreed, saying she was just explaining why it had been done that way in the first place.
Seager said he spoke with Judge Michael Cotter, who told him he didn’t care if the desk height was lowered. Seager also offered to do the work and provide the material for the change free of charge to the village.
The board members discussed some of the problems with seeing around the raised desks and the advantages of increasing communication during meetings.
Stanford and Renucci both said they hadn’t really thought about it before, but that it didn’t seem to be an issue to them. Johnson and Zess cited specific issues with line of sight and sound issues caused by the raised desks in the middle of the boardroom.
Timms said he didn’t think having a judge sit on the same level as a defendant was a good idea, but that he spoke to Cotter himself and was told it didn’t matter to the judge if the desks were lowered.
“I get that you guys don’t want me sitting up here, but it’s only for a couple more months,” Timms said after more discussion, then he motioned for the board to leave things as they were, Stanford seconded.
The motion passed 4-3, with Timms, Stanford, Johnson and Rennuci voting yes and Seager, Douglass and Zess voting no.
