"Killer" Information Requests and Absurd Village Secrecy

  On Oct 7, Wausau Pilot posted an article about Kronenwetter Administrator Davel wanting to charge requesters of public information before providing it.

  After reading this article, think that Davel sounds like a whining baby. I personally would not believe a word he says, as in my opinion there always seems to be some ulterior, self-servng or otherwise manipulative motive. He seems to be piggy-backing his complaints on the Wausau/Weston bandwagon to vilify and/or monetize open records requests as one of numerous excuses to raise revenue which in turn seems to be wasted without a second thought. One of his old Army officer habits, I guess.
   Basically the issue  all comes down to yet another example of the laziness and employee sense of entitlement that we have seen in the past few months under Davel's influence. 

A New Tune 

   It's strange, because we never heard complaints that the information requests were "killing us" before, when Jennifer Poyer was clerk. Why is it such a problem now, after Davel says things are going so smoothly with Poyer and Wegner gone? 

    Why are they are allegedly paying Trustee Kelly Coyle's wife Kim an extra $1,000 per month as "interim clerk" (?) if she cannot do the job?
   It seems that since Davel came to the Village last November and partnered up with prez Dan Joling, things have gone into a tailspin of gross incompetence and very costly  hubris-driven personal politics,which we have not yet seen the total settlement cost of.

   Let's not forget the examples of now-common, run of the mill stupidity, driving the Village steadily downhill. 
   Both Prez Joling and admin Davel have been openly hostile to providing public records,as well as to the requesters of public records and to government transparency in general. That ought to make them repugnant to any patriotic American who understands Constitutional values.

Fundamental Wisconsin Values 

    The irony in Davel's apparent desperation  is that fulfilling information requests is one of the more BASIC, standard duties of a municipality.  Here is what Wisconsin Statute 19.31 states as Wisconsin public policy:

 19.31 Declaration of policy. In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them. Further, providing persons with such information is declared to be an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of officers and employees whose responsibility it is to provide such information. To that end, ss. 19.32 to 19.37 shall be construed in every instance with a presumption of complete public access, consistent with the conduct of governmental business. The denial of public access generally is contrary to the public interest, and only in an exceptional case may access be denied.

   I hope this is plain enough for readers sixth grade level and above to understand. But for Mr Davel and Prez Joling's sake I will summarize what it says -

• The public has a right to all government documents, with very few and identified exceptions. 
•  Providing these documents is baked into the government cake of obligations to the public; so no whining about it, and no asinine excuses to delay or prevent fulfillment..
•    Providing these documents IS THE JOB of anyone who is responsible to provide these documents. It is not an extra burden, it's not a special favor, it's not a big PIA  interference with you doing your "job" or "other duties". It IS your job and your duty, so either do it or get the hell out of our government. 

   If Davel is freaking out to reporters over something as basic as providing open records, I can readily surmise how everything else in Village government may be falling apart under the hood as well, and which they are keeping from the public.

       It appears that as the Village progressively crashes and burns, they will merely throw your money at problems caused by themselves to compensate for inept management, and in trying to prevent public awareness of it all.
    Thus, we are now hearing all this talk about a bigger budget, a $30,000,000 (thirty million) borrowing plan, and not a single word about maybe having some intelligent efficiency and management to keep costs down. I know a little about basic best practices and practical business management, and I see NONE of it currently practiced in Kronenwetter. That is apparently why they are so ridiculously secretive and appear to hate open records requests. I believe that the FLOCK cameras would be put to better use if they were installed in the Kronenwetter offices.

   We can see the deterioration of public service under Davel, in the poor quality or absence of the meeting packet reports; we see it in the childish simplistic nothingness of the Administrator Reports.

   They use clumsy, obvious tactics such as:

•  Fake and unjustifiably extended closed sessions, 
•  Undue secrecy; 
•  They attack and eliminate the most honest, qualified employees,
•  Wantonly waste away taxpayer money,
•  Close on Fridays due to an alleged perpetual "staff shortage"
•  Treat the public like scum who have no business asking questions, or requesting information.

   So then, after all that, Davel complains that the  "information requests are killing us"? What does he expect? If they want to play stupid games, they can win stupid prizes. 

   Records requests seem to be the only way to pry out any information, and a direct result of the excessive secretiveness. They continually stir the pot with illegal-appearing activities and far-out unethical antics. Of course they are going to get information requests about their disreputable antics.
    Kronenwetter is supposed to be an open, representative government in the Republic of Wisconsin, in the Republic of the united States. This is not martial law,  Davel and Joling are not "occupiers", and the Village Board should not be a mini-politburo.

  An informed public and government transparency is Wisconsin Public Policy and a statutory RIGHT of the people. If Davel (Joling seems to have the same attitude) doesn't like it he can hit the road and find the unemployment line. 
 

The Value of a Good Clerk 

   The legal expense for "redaction" is about 99% by their own choice, and looks to me like mostly an excuse to delay fulfillment for weeks. 
   Reality is that there are very few things that need redaction, and a knowledgeable Village Clerk can tell what needs redaction and what doesn't; no need for lawyers almost ever. That was the norm in Kronenwetter until 2023.  

      The trouble is that Davel and the gang appear to have made certain that the "knowledgeable Village Clerk that we DID have, got driven out and replaced by an apparently UN-knowledgeable interim Davel loyalist crony. 

   Speaking of clerks - It appears that the Board interviewed and approved hiring of a Village Clerk a month ago. Davel reports that an offer letter was sent and accepted. Why is this person's name still kept secret? This is yet another example of them stirring the pot to create drama, distrust and more information requests. 

    I have submitted information requests that have still not been fulfilled under Davel's proclaimed new Village "culture" (apparently incompetence and Soviet-style secrecy). Davel and Joling have butted their nose into some of my requests by making the most asinine comments as to why they won't be fulfilled or why they have been delayed so long.   It's a shameful clown show, if you ask me.  
    Folks, it looks to me like there is no one legitimately flying the plane in Kronenwetter.