Correction: The Whitewater city clerk mistakenly informed WhitewaterWise by email that von Briesen and Roper attorney Kyle Gulya attended a closed session Thursday regarding the city manager’s employment performance. City officials have since corrected the record, noting that von Briesen attorney Ryan P. Heiden attended both Monday and Thursday’s closed sessions. The story has been corrected to reflect that change. WhitewaterWise regrets the error.  

By Kim McDarison

The Whitewater Common Council Thursday following a closed session announced that it would instruct the city’s attorney to “work with” the city manager on “job expectations” and amend a city ordinance regarding “city manager appointment of certain high level city officials.”

The two actions followed a nearly two-hour closed session held during the council’s regularly scheduled meeting, which was moved to Thursday to accommodate Tuesday’s election.

Along with council members, the closed session was attended by von Briesen and Roper attorney Ryan P. Heiden, who represented the council. 

Director of Human Resources Sara Marquardt in a council meeting last August described the city’s relationship with von Briesen and Roper as “special legal counsel on matters the city attorney does not wish to address.” Within an August 2023 memo, Marquardt listed contract negotiations and complex labor-related issues as among those that would likely be handled by the firm.

The city manager’s job performance also was a topic of discussion during a 2-1/2-hour closed session meeting held Monday. The special meeting included two items on its agenda: an open session opportunity for public comments and the closed session discussion. Following the closed session, council members returned to open session and announced that they would take no action regarding the closed session discussion.

During Monday’s closed session, Heiden, representing the common council, attended the meeting.

City Attorney Jonathan McDonell, on Monday, told WhitewaterWise that he did not attend the closed session, citing his presence as a “conflict of interest.”

While no members of the public came forward to speak during the open meeting public comments segment of Monday’s special meeting held in advance of the closed session, two members of the public came forward to speak after council adjourned its closed session and returned to open.

As a matter of city policy, public comments about items not on an agenda are heard during the general public comments portion of a meeting. Comments about specific agenda items are entertained during discussion of the individual item.

At the podium, Whitewater resident Kim Adams, describing a dispute over a tree on her property encroaching onto neighboring land, said she was unsettled by interactions she and her partner had approximately two years ago regarding the matter with then-interim City Manager John Weidl.

Said Adams: “I would just like to encourage the common council, as you are considering performance evaluation and standards moving forward, that you really look hard at soft skills of the city manager. I would say from my experience, along with my partner … our experience from a couple of years ago, every bit of our interaction, lacked those soft skills.” 

She listed interpersonal communication, active listening, diplomacy, attitude, flexibility, conflict resolution, and emotional intelligence as among the types of soft skills to which she was referring.

Describing herself as a 32-year member of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater staff, now retired, she said, in her experience, during the incident, the then-interim manager’s behavior “really lacks the ability to be an effective leader.”

Adams said in September of 2022, Weidl and then-city Parks and Recreation Director Eric Boettcher arrived at her home to “address a property line violation that was being investigated. My purpose is not to talk about that issue, but to talk about the experience and how we received the city manager really being very rude, and unprofessional, and inconsiderate, and every ‘un’ word you can actually think of.” 

During the visit, she said, the two city officials arrived 10 minutes late, and began their investigation from the “other side of the property, without coming over and introducing themselves.”

Adams said upon making her own introduction to the officials, Weidl, she recounted, said, “I was warned about you.”

Conflict arose, she said when she began videotaping the activities associated with the investigation, wanting, she said, to make a record. She recounted a dialog that followed, saying: “he (Weidl) turned on his heel and said: ‘if you are going to do that, you’ll have to meet me at city hall.’ So, I was saying: ‘John, John, John, stop.’ He just kept walking. I said I’ll stop the video. And, so I did.”

Adams said her partner, at the time of the interaction, was “dealing with vertigo.”

Additionally, she said, a neighbor was present, whom, she said, would be “willing to provide testimony at whatever point in time if you so desire, so we have that additional party.”

Adams said the city manager, “made the comment, as we were talking, because we thought we had a verbal agreement with the previous city manager and (her partner) said: ‘it’s my understanding that verbal contract’s are binding.’ And Mr. Weidl’s response was: ‘you want to go ahead and sue me? Go ahead. The city has all sorts of money.’

“And,” Adams said, “that was never (partner’s) intent at all; that’s not our style. And, again, she was just kind of trying to keep her balance and everything, and our friend and former colleague looked at me kind of cross-eyed, like ‘what in the world?’ 

“At the end,” Adams concluded, “he (Weidl) did allow me … to video what the resolution was, and I did, and then after I turned it off, he said: ‘Are you happy?’ And then I started to respond, and he interrupted, and said: ‘Never mind. Happiness is just a transient emotion.’

“And I am just thinking: You are so lacking in emotional intelligence.” 

She said the experience “really weighed” on herself and her partner “for quite some time.”

Whitewater resident Larry Kachel, who, having withdrawn from Tuesday’s race, is serving out a remaining few weeks of his term as a Whitewater Unified School District Board of Education member, told council members that he wanted to make clear: “I am only speaking here as an individual.”

Said Kachel: “Numerous times over the last year and a half, it just seems that sometimes the city manager’s a little too quick (to) go to making defamatory statements about individuals in the community, of which I am one. And I think they are counterproductive.” 

He described an incident where he said he knew “a little bit of what happened” further noting, “I did get a call from the attorney on it; I think that was a waste of time, and a waste of money for the city, and to have that as your first tool out of the box — that’s your last tool out of the box.”   

Addressing council members, he said: “We are a community that’s pretty tightly knit — I know every one of you very well. And there’s just no place for this type of behavior. And I serve as my other official for three more weeks, you may be hearing more from me after that.” 

During Thursday’s meeting, council members voted 6-1 to “work with city attorney regarding job expectations and corresponding note in file,” with councilwoman Jill Gerber casting the ‘no’ vote.

Gerber, who did not seek reelection Tuesday, asked the council to participate in a closed session during a regularly scheduled meeting held in March. Council voted to postpone the item, opting to wait until all of its members could participate in the discussion in person. In March, councilman Patrick Singer was on vacation and participated in the meeting remotely.

Gerber expressed some urgency in addressing the closed session item, which was described on the March agenda as to review and evaluate the employment performance of the city manager. Council voted 4-3 in favor of postponing the issue, opting instead to hold a special meeting on Monday.

Gerber also has filed a writ of mandamus against the city in the Walworth County Circuit Court regarding information she did not receive following her submittal of an open records request. The matter is pending before the court with a telephone status conference to discuss the action scheduled to take place in June.

An earlier story about the decision to postpone the closed session discussion and the writ of mandamus filing is here: https://whitewaterwise.com/councilwoman-gerber-files-lawsuit-against-city-calls-for-special-meeting-to-review-city-managers-employment-performance/.

Also on Thursday, council members voted unanimously to “work with city attorney to change ordinance regarding city manager appointment of certain high level city officials.”

New council members who were elected Tuesday are anticipated to take the oath of office and begin their terms Tuesday, April 16. They are: Orin Smith, who will assume the Aldermanic District 2 seat held by exiting incumbent Lukas Schreiber, Brian Schanen, who will assume the Aldermanic District 4 seat held by exiting incumbent Gerber, and Greg Majkrzak who will assume the at-large seat held by recently appointed councilwoman Carol McCormick.

An earlier story with Tuesday’s unofficial election tallies is here: https://whitewaterwise.com/majkrzak-to-fill-at-large-council-seat/.

During Thursday’s meeting, Gerber, Schreiber and McCormick were thanked for their service and council members took a 10-minute recess to enjoy cake.