By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
An attorney hired by three full-time employees of the Town of Waterford Sanitary District has made a written complaint to the Racine County district attorney’s office about how WSD conducts its meetings.
That letter, sent Nov. 8 by attorney Paul Bucher to District Attorney Richard Chiapete, caught WSD officials off guard.
“This is the first we’ve heard about it,” said attorney Michael Dubis, who was hired Nov. 7 as WSD legal counsel.
Dubis, and WSD board president Dan Dickinson, first learned of Bucher’s complaint when asked Nov. 19 for comment by the Waterford Post.
Generally, one attorney will contact the other whenever a complaint like this is contemplated, explained Dubis.
Bucher’s complaint specifically targets a WSD commissioners meeting held Nov. 7, which Bucher complains began improperly in closed session.
To back up that claim, a Nov. 7 meeting agenda was sent to Chiapete. It shows the Nov. 7 meeting starting in closed session – which is not permitted under the state’s Open Meetings Law.
But the Nov. 7 agenda sent to the D.A. was an early version prepared Nov. 2. On Nov. 5, the final Nov. 7 agenda was distributed and posted, and there is no closed session included anywhere.
Regardless, Bucher also sent Chiapete an agenda for an Oct. 29 WSD meeting that apparently did begin in closed session, as well as a Nov. 5 meeting agenda that shows a closed session start, but which was changed and held in open session that day, according to Dickinson.
Dubis wrote to Chiapete Nov. 20, explaining the issues with the Nov. 7 and Nov. 5 agenda notices Bucher had forwarded to Chiapete. Dubis also noted that the meetings Bucher referenced were held while WSD was without legal counsel.
On Nov. 2, Bucher had warned WSD about improperly starting its meetings in closed session. State open meetings rules require that a public meeting be held in open session at the start, but can later move into closed session for certain discussions, such as employee discipline.
All three full-time WSD employees recently hired Bucher, a former Waukesha County district attorney, to represent their interests as WSD considers taking unspecified disciplinary actions against them.
In a related matter, a Brookfield attorney whom WSD had expected to hire to specifically handle employee issues has sent notice that her firm cannot accept WSD as a client at this time.
As a result, Dickinson has asked WSD Administrator Debbie Nelson to try and schedule a special meeting for the commissioners sometime next week.
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