Lies, Damned Lies, and "Investigation" Reports

As of September 4th the Village Clerk Jennifer Poyer is gone. Friday was her last day.

    I believe that she took along with her the last vestiges of a solid work ethic, integrity, and principles that remained in Kronenwetter Village management, outside of the Fire Department.

   It seems as senseless to me as a cutting away the good parts of a country apple, and  keeping the core and worm-eaten remainder.

    Mr. Davel's proclaimed "culture change" for the Village seems to be creating what the ancient Greeks termed a "Kakistocracy".   Definition: A government run by the least qualified, most incompetent, or most corrupt individuals. Or in shorthand, "the worst choice of people"

   Clerk Poyer didn't just decide to leave, I believe she was methodically driven out by hostility, and passive and not-so-passive aggression of coworkers. Not to mention Mr Joling and Mr. Davel who, being Mr. Davel appears to have quite a history of driving women to resignation.

    I think you will see that when and if this new investigation is conducted with any integrity at all. The procedure is being overseen by Trustee Lesniak. 

Open Meeting Violations

         We don't know how Mr. Lesniak got that position because like so much else this Board seems to do, it all appears to have been decided under the table in these "closed sessions" that I believe regularly violate open meeting laws.

   In case you are not aware, open village government has been designed so that nothing happens without a public motion, a second, and vote to approve it. Even with legitimate closed sessions, matters discussed in closed session need to have action taken in open session. It also needs to be in a form to reasonably inform the public of what was done. 

   The common "I move to approve what we talked about in closed session" garbage that the current Board has been doing appears to me to be a big "F-You" to the public's right to know, and an apparent violation of statutory open meeting policy, betrayal of public trust, etc., etc. 

The "New Investigation"

   Unlike the Joling-Davel investigation-thing that happened which was not based on any complaint, an unstable, meandering scope, and no apparent legitimate basis, the clerk's new, bonafide complaint cites numerous specific violations and behavior by Davel and Joling, backed up by specific relevant documented evidence. Since it involves an actual complaint of sexual harassment, Village Policy requires a third-party investigation. 

   This in a way is unfortunate, after seeing twice now, the weaknesses and opportunity for manipulated outcomes that these kinds of investigations allow for. 

   Had the first investigation been conducted independently and objectively, we likely would never have seen this complaint or the need for the second investigation.  

   Had the first issue been dealt with sanely and intelligently, there never would have been a need for the first investigation. The $50,000 might have gone to parks or not spent at all; anywhere other than pissed away on personal politics and lawyers. 

   At most, if there really would have been a tiff over Davel's conduct, Village policy HR-009 outlines a fast and efficient process. That policy calls for a PUBLIC HEARING with rules of EVIDENCE, SWORN testimony and a fairly-chosen objective "hearing officer". This would have cost the Village maybe $5000 tops under reasonable conditions, not $50,000. 

   This policy provided the very elements that President Joling and the lawyers he engaged apparently and specifically sought to AVOID with his carefully crafted so called "investigation". The taxpayers paid $50,000 for it, but it appears that the documents themselves state that by Joling effectively assuming the role as "client", the whole program was done under the guidance and direction of Mr. Joling alone, pursuing his personal plan as if these were his own lawyers. The Board never was consulted, let alone approved anything beyond the approval of contracts.

   Board members were originally told by Atty Heiden of von Briesen that "once 'sexual harassment [a term brought in by Joling] is even mentioned, you need to hold a third party investigation to avoid possible future litigation". I believe that statement is what caused the initial Board approval. I don't believe it is true.

   However, once Board approval was secured, in classic bait-and-switch fashion it appears that Joling behind the scenes created a scope of the investigation as an issue of "improper storytelling"; not "sexual harassment. After that, he again changed it, by greatly broadening the scope during the interviews to go after Wegner, which I think was the intent from the beginning.

   In other words, the "requirement" for an investigation was triggered by Joling's introduction of the "sexual harassment" element into the matter. Once the Board approved the investigation, it appears that Joling took control of it as his own.  

   None of the various scopes were ever approved by the Board, even though I specifically asked at the March 9 meeting for a scope and cost limit to be provided. I now see that the minutes only record the issue of cost, but the recording will tell the story. Neither request was met.

   The original "investigation" into Davel for better or worse was effectively concluded with the HJC executive summary of March 27. However the report mentions "extremely troubling revelations", "not directly related to the scope" of the original investigation authorized by the Board. Investigator Curtis states that this warranted "additional review and action by the Village Board at a later date."

I took that to mean "action" by the Board to authorize more money to pursue that matter which would effectively have been a whole new "scope" for him to investigate. Instead, it appears that Joling had already approved the new scope, but not any further investigation, such as getting Wegner"s and Poyer's side of the story. 

   All this was done without Board knowledge or authorization.

See my post detailing how these "third party independent investigations" work.  It's not how you might think.

https://kencharneskireport.blogspot.com/2026/06/the-investigation-part-2-dive-into-how.html

Where We are Now as a Village.

   Targets of the "investigation" Wegner and Poyer seem to have been among the few workers there who were more dedicated to their work and to the people that they served than they were to their own pay, their vacation time, or any other self-interests that seem to pervade society. The proof is in the pudding that like any other "culture change", those who don't fit in are considered to be the problem, not those who impose the changes. In this case it is  the good part of the apple had to go,not the changing, rotting part. 

   You will be very hard pressed to find new people willing to work 60 -hour weeks on a salary based on 40. And if you do, WHY IN THE HELL would people like that ever apply for a position in Kronenwetter after what this crowd has treated these employees.

   "This crowd" - means Davel and Joling with the support of Kelly Coyle and the other Board members, along with the alleged "friends" and co-workers that the report readily identifies as throwing Wegner and Poyer under the bus,whether it was redacted or not.

   Davel himself is documented to have said that he had to protect himself, and that Wegner and Poyer were scapegoats/collateral damage. 

   Has anyone even asked this question - If those personal texts were so disruptive (similar text arguments were not unheard of among that circle of workers, including the accusers), why wasn't Wegner fired months earlier? 

   My answer to that is that the investigation did not "discover" this situation. It was known, addressed, and settled weeks or months earlier.The investigator was merely fed this information on cue, as a manufactured basis to attack Wegner and Poyer.

   Read the last two paragraphs again.

The Fallacy of an "Independent Investigation"   

   It is apparent to me that this $50,000 was not intended for a legitimate search for facts about Davel's behavior, because at least two witnesses were selectively omitted from being interviewed, and the investigator specifically rejected a stack of documentation from Sandi Sorensen showing Davel's other, allegedly improper and disreputable behavior in his current and previous position.

   Instead I believe that this whole gigantic theater show was intended to simply be a vehicle to publicly smear Wegner and Poyer as punishment.

   It appears their "big, beautiful, tactical plan" backfired on them however, because I don't think they took into consideration the legal requirement for AUGMENTATION, which is the opportunity for the alleged targets of the investigation to present their side of the story. 

   I believe that the truth presented in that augmentation along with the report itself  reveals the true culprits, and the the dirty, dastardly nature of this "investigation"; the trus cost of it going far beyond the $50,000 in legal fees.  

   If termination of employment was really justified, it could have been done for free, quietly and professionally back in early January, without any of the shame or disgrace that the Village has brought upon itself.