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Scott Town Board Dukes Out Hazards
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By CHERYL SCHOLZ
4/23/08 TOWN of SCOTT-Tempers flared and voices rose at the town hall during a special meeting on Thursday April 17 to discuss several on-going issues regarding two township employees. The end result saw the airing of the issues but a lack of action in terms of reprimands
Over a dozen town residents attended the 7:00 p.m. meeting. Also present that evening were Supervisors Dan Morin along with newly elected Supervisors Dennis Janz and Randy Narbatovics.
The first of two issues on the agenda was regarding part-time employee Ken Willkomm, hitting an aluminum boat while moving snow with the town’s road grader on January 23. The fishing boat was the property of Tim Taylor and was located on Hickory Hollow Road in Beechwood. It was reported the boat had been stored there for numerous winters.
Willkomm prepared an accident report on January 23, and it was submitted to the Town Board on Monday February 11. The report stated he was moving snow with the grader when he hit something hard, but at that time he could not identify what is was.
“I could see it sticking out of the snow. I was not going to spend three hours digging through the snow, figured I’d just wait until spring,” Willkomm commented at the meeting. Taylor apparently was not aware of the damage until the arrival of spring when the melting layers of snow exposed the damaged boat.
Supervisor Janz made arrangements to return to the Taylor property to confirm the measurement that would determine whether the boat was parked within the easement line. If the boat were parked outside of the easement line, the Town Board would have to determine if any action would be taken to reimburse Taylor for replacement of his boat. Supervisors did not mention any disciplinary action toward their fellow Supervisor, Willkomm for his role in the accident.
The damage to the boat is one of several property damage accidents reportedly caused by Willkomm while operating a town vehicle. In 2006, Willkomm backed into town resident Russell Kempf, with the town’s snowplow truck. Kempf was driving a John Deere Gator (utility vehicle) on the road legally and did not sustain any injuries according to reports. At that time, the Town Board voted to settle out of court and pay Kempf $750 for the damage caused to his vehicle.
In spring of 2006, the town board received a complaint from a town resident claiming Willkomm damaged a dead-end road with the snow plow and caused damage to a driveway when he used the private driveway to turn the snow plow truck around without permission. With no action being taken by the board, the resident soon requested that town snowplow drivers stay off his property. Disciplinary action was again not taken against Willkomm in either case.
The Town Board, along with residents proved the second agenda item to be the hot button issue. The town’s full-time Road/Maintenance Foreman, Mark Muench was given a citation from the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department for “Hit and Run Adjacent to Highway”. The citation came his involvement in breaking off a utility pole located in the town hall parking lot with the town’s snowplow truck and according to some, leaving the scene of the accident.
The accident is said to have occurred on the morning of January 31. The police report stated enough evidence was gathered at the scene to state the pole had been backed into. Tire tracks left in the snow also matched the tires of the town’s snowplow truck that Muench had been operating that morning. When questioned by a deputy, Muench is said to have denied his involvement several times before admitting he did hit the utility pole.
On February 27, six days prior to the scheduled court date, Muench paid the $249 citation. On March 12, his attorney, John Hawley had the case reopened to request a substitution charge. Hawley was successful and Muench was given a charge for “Improper Signal for Stop/Turn” a non-moving violation. This move saw Muench paying a higher forfeiture, but allowed him to maintain his Commercial Drivers License (CDL).
Chairman Steve Jung gathered the attention of the Town Board to discuss the situation surrounding this accident. After a short briefing, Jung offered Muench the opportunity to address the Board regarding the situation. The board and residents attending the meeting guessed Muench’s statements conflicted with the information provided by the Sheriff’s Deputy in the police report. Muench reply, “I don’t know where he got the information from, but it was not true.”
Supervisor Janz went on to support Muench’s claim by saying “Police reports aren’t the gospel you know.” “It was a simple accident, we shouldn’t punish the guy.” Additional comments made by Narbatovics, a member of the Beechwood Fire Department and Willkomm showed their willingness overlook the accident also.
Jung chimed into the discussion and expressed how disturbed he was that Muench, the Fire Chief of the Beechwood Fire Department would leave the scene of such a potentially hazardous situation.
After the sideline discussions ended, Supervisor Morin made a motion to terminate Muench’s employment because of the incident. Willkomm quickly retorted, “You can’t make that motion. It was made before and it didn’t work.” Chairman Jung clarified the motion to which Willkomm replied, “We’ll have to get attorney.”
Willkomm went on to explain he felt the town’s employee handbook was too vague regarding accidents. Supervisor Morin then read a portion of the handbook out loud that stated conduct displayed by Muench qualified as grounds for termination.
Supervisor Morin’s motion to terminate failed. Chairman Jung, discouraged by the Board’s lack of reaction to the situation, confirmed the majority of the Town Board did not want to take any action against Muench and ended the meeting by saying to him 'You must be blessed or something, I still think you did what was in this report.'
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