June 6, 2022 – West Bend, Wi – The West Bend Common Council will vote by secret ballot (a request made by Dist. 2 alderman Mark Allen) on a new alderman in District 8 during its meeting tonight, Monday, June 6, 2022. The agenda packet includes the application letter and some resume material from four candidates. Click HERE for details. Interviews will be conducted at 5 p.m. and a requested secret ballot vote will be held during the council meeting and then the new council member will be sworn in.
The council will review appointment of a new head city clerk. That position has been open nearly seven months since head clerk Stephanie Justman resigned to take a job in neighboring Dodge County.
There is no information in the agenda packet for the public to review regarding the new clerk however the No. 4 item on the agenda is “Appointment of City Clerk.”
When asked why no information, District 2 alderman Mark Allen said, “that’s confidential.”
“The city clerk went through an interview process and then was offered a position based on an interview board that reviewed all of the candidates that we looked at,” he said.
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The review board is made up of Jay Shambeau – administrator, Mayor Jenkins, Mike Jentsch – parks department, Michelle Hoey – HR department and Dist. 2 alderman Mark Allen.
Questioned how council members are supposed to know how to make a decision with no information Allen said, “there is information in the council members packets.”
Calls, however, were made to council members and it appears some got the information on the clerk candidate, and some did not.
A second packet distribution was emailed Monday afternoon from the deputy city clerk.
Another alderman confirmed, there are two packets. One with information the council can see yet the public cannot.
“It is frustrating that the West Bend Common Council has been so secretive in the hiring of our next City Clerk,” said Randy Marquardt, Chairman Republican Party of Washington County. “While some aspects are understandably confidential, it is a very important position, especially in terms of election administration. It would be nice to at least see the qualifications of those candidates being considered.”
Allen said he doesn’t believe this is a lack of transparency. “This is quite common,” he said. “It is policy.”
Questioned what the policy number was Allen said, “I don’t know that it’s a written policy.”
Calls have been placed to other council members to see if they received a full agenda packet or the amended packet the public received. There’s also the question on why some council members received all the information and some did not, just hours before the 6:30 p.m. start of the Monday night meeting.
This is a working story and more information will be posted when details become available.
Jay Shambeau – administrator, Mayor Jenkins, Mike Jentsch – parks department, Michelle Hoey – HR department and Dist. 2 alderman Mark Allen
These individuals comprise ‘the deep state’ here in West Bend. They are political activists/operatives and have designs for your community that are not in your interest.
I’m rarely wrong about these assessments. I called the last “CiTy AdMiNiStRaToR” and I’m calling this one too. Check his internet history.