By Kim McDarison

Residents of the town of Richmond arrived at the polls Tuesday to cast their vote during an election held to recall their town treasurer Ann Seaver.

After the polls closed Tuesday evening, town clerk Cindy Hafferkamp posted to the town’s website that 232 residents cast votes to install Emmily Taylor as the town’s treasurer and 177 residents cast votes to retain Seaver. 

Taylor will serve as the town’s treasurer until April, 2025. 

Plans to hold an election to recall the town’s treasurer of 31 years were put in motion after a “Statement of Intent to Petition for Recall” was submitted to the town clerk in April, according to the town board’s published June 18 meeting minutes.

According to the minutes, 249 signatures were required on the petition to bring a recall vote. The petition received by the clerk had 305 signatures, of which, the minutes noted, 303 were accepted.

In June, candidates intending to run for the position were informed that their notice of candidacy forms needed to be submitted to the clerk no later than 5 p.m. July 2.

The minutes additionally reported that the incumbent treasurer, Seaver, would automatically be included on the ballot and did not need to submit forms.

On Tuesday, residents found the name of a single challenger, Emmily Taylor, on the ballot.

The meeting minutes from June further report that Seaver “states she is staying on the ballot because she does not agree with the information that has been written/voiced about her.”

The board in June unanimously approved proceeding with the recall election, which was scheduled for August.

In August, voters within the town received letters from each of the candidates, with each addressing an ongoing dialog about the performance of Seaver as the community’s treasurer.

Why a recall: From Seaver’s perspective

In her letter to voters, Seaver cited information shared with town residents within at least two anonymous letters in which, she said, “false and misleading allegations” about her job performance were spread by “someone too ashamed to sign them.”

Seaver, who wrote that she was quoting from the letters, stated that the letters accused her of “in 2021 … mishandling at least $93,000 of taxpayer money.”

Quoting again from what she said was the anonymous letter, she wrote that the author claimed “in 2022, the town of Richmond mishandled an undisclosed amount of tax payments.”

Seaver wrote: “The facts are that the (10) property tax entries that were in error totaled $29,066.63. All errors were identified and correctly remediated without any negative impact to those property owners.”

In her letter, Seaver noted that she had trouble adjusting to a new automated property tax collection system installed by the Walworth County Treasurer’s Office in 2021.

She wrote: “I admittedly struggled with (the system) and as a consequence, I had a handful of property tax errors that were corrected after being brought to our attention.”

She said fees and penalties associated with the errors totaled $1,479. The money was covered by the town’s insurance, she wrote.

Over the course of 31 years, Seaver wrote, “you might expect over that period of time, I certainly have made errors, none of which were intentional …”

She accused the anonymous letter-writer of acting intentionally, with a goal to “cause concern to our residents, thereby providing a convenient campaign issue to run on.”

Additionally, Seaver said, the letters reported to residents “it is illegal for an elected treasurer to reside outside of the town of Richmond.”

The letter-writer accused the board of having this knowledge, further stating: “Ann Seaver was living in a nursing home in Delavan when they nominated her.”

In her letter, Seaver told residents that she had lived on her farm in the town of Richmond since 1973, and in August of 2021, following knee surgery, she was placed in an assisted care facility, which she described as “approximately (one) mile outside of the boundaries of our township.”

In a telephone interview, Seaver said she was in a wheelchair, but was regaining her strength, looked forward to walking again, and returning to her home.

In her letter to residents, she wrote: “While there is a statutory requirement for elected officials in Wisconsin to reside within their municipal boundaries, the Wisconsin League of Municipalities and the Wisconsin courts have provided for exceptions such as mine where there is a medical restriction with an intention to return to your residence.”

Seaver said she hoped to retain her seat following Tuesday’s election so she could finish out the remainder of her term, which ends in April. She said she did not plan to run for another term. In the meantime, she said, she is being assisted by a deputy clerk.

Why a recall: From Taylor’s perspective

In her letter, Taylor said she has been a resident in the town for 19 years, and described herself as married and the mother of six children.

She outlined her education, and experience, listing such skills as “completing accounts payable and receivable, processing payroll, handling asset management, and tracking inventories and associated costs.”

She described herself as “very detail-oriented, goal-driven, and service-minded.”

Taylor wrote: “I believe in fiscal responsibility and governmental accountability through transparency. I also advocate promoting confidence in our local government through accurate and organized record-keeping, as well as strong checks and balances.

“Many town residents are wondering why a recall petition was filed and why there is a need to (affect) change immediately.”

Quoting, she stated, from the reasons listed on the petition, she wrote of Seaver: “can not or refuses to attend board meetings to answer questions; has lost taxpayer monies in the form of non-collections; does not dwell in the township, and treasurer reports do not accurately represent town finances.”

Taylor wrote that “our current treasurer has neglected her duties,” and — citing words, which she identified as quotes, from “our former deputy treasurer,” and reproduced, within her letter, she said, “with permission” — stated that the “ending number on the monthly treasurer’s report and (a now retired former town clerk’s) ending number on the monthly treasurer’s report never matched any month during 2022.”

The quoted source questioned other procedures regarding finances, alleging the involvement of additional town officials, saying, as quoted by Taylor, “this information may also give you some insight as to why I resigned.”

Taylor said the source served as the deputy treasurer of the town for approximately nine months.

Taylor called the allegations cited within her letter as the “tip of the iceberg,” writing they were among reasons that she was advocating for “necessary change,” and, she noted, “the sooner the better!”

Further, Taylor wrote, “I am aware of unfortunate circumstances surrounding our current treasurer’s health and I have compassion for her situation, however, I also feel the residents of our town absolutely deserve a fully-functioning, in-person treasurer. We simply cannot wait until next April.”