Nov. 11, 2016 – West Bend, WI – The Washington County Executive Committee has a pretty meaty agenda next Tuesday, Nov. 15.
The committee will adjourn into closed session to “Discuss the personnel situation and possible separation agreement of the County Attorney.”
On Oct. 20 http://www.washingtoncountyinsider.com was first to report about the job status of County Attorney Kim Nass.
She had not been in the office and no reason was given for her absence. As of Friday, Nov. 11 Nass was still not in her office.
The Washington County Sheriff has confirmed Nass is not under any criminal investigation.
County Board Chairman Rick Gundrum refused to comment on the personnel situation as did County Administrator Joshua Schoemann.
Now it appears the Executive Committee will take up the issue and come out of closed session on Tuesday with a determination on the status of Nass and her position as County Attorney.
The other hot topic is revisiting the Resolution of a “Vote of No Confidence” for County Treasurer Jane Merten.
On Oct. 18 http://www.washingtoncountyinsider.com was first to report on a “No Confidence Vote” for Merten.
The resolution stemmed from a scam email Merten responded to in June where she sent a pair of wire transfers to a fraudulent account. The initial amount was over $82,000. In September the Sheriff confirmed that half of the money never went through and $32,163.76 was returned to Washington County on Sept. 15, 2016.
On Oct. 25 the County Board failed to act on the “No Confidence Vote” citing some “incomplete language in the resolution.”
A discussion of the resolution on the “Vote of No Confidence” will be taken up on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
District 21 Supervisor Donald Kriefall is the one pushing the resolution. “We’re caretakers of the taxpayers money and we need to have some sort of consequence for this error and a vote of no confidence is the least we can do,” said Kriefall. “She made a mistake and this is our way of putting a letter in her file.”
Merten was just reelected to her position as County Treasurer during the Nov. 8 election. She received 62,455 votes or 98.90%. Merten ran uncontested.
Other items on Tuesday’s agenda include appointments, discussion of using the Old Courthouse for County Board meetings, and another closed session discussion regarding the Washington County Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 7 a.m.
