Top Stories, September 14th

Gibson Expects High Voter Turnout

9/14/10 - Dodge County Clerk Karen Gibson is expecting a high voter turnout for today’s primary election. She says the county sheriff and statewide gubernatorial races should result in about a 28% turnout at the polls. Gibson says you don’t have to vote for all the races but it’s vital that you only vote for one party. Wisconsin law permits Republicans to vote Democrat and vice versa but Gibson says the ballot will be invalid if you vote for both democrats and republicans. Gibson says the best way to avoid making a mistake during the primary is to use the electronic, touch screen voting machine. Gibson suggests that you take your time and read the ballot carefully. If voters make a mistake when voting by hand, two additional ballots can be requested. The polls are open from 7am until 8pm. Once the polls close we’ll have live coverage of election returns on WBEV and WXRO.

Lowell Treasurer Urges Chair To Reimburse Taxpayers Over Ditch Issue

9/14/10 - The Town of Lowell Treasurer is calling on the Town Board Chair to reimburse taxpayers for the money spent blocking a ditch that resulted in flooding on her property. Treasurer Eileen Borth says Chair John Schmitt failed to follow proper procedure when he ordered that a berm be installed in a ditch on Well Road in the spring of 2009, causing water from heavy rains to collect upstream on her farm. Borth says her crops are underwater and Schmitt alone made the decision that his in-laws should be the ones on dry land. Schmitt was not present at last night’s meeting and Supervisor Greg Caine was acting chair. Borth told the board that Schmitt should apologize for the action that he taken on public land and (quote) “do the right thing” and pay back the township for labor and attorney fees. She also said there is a conflict of interest because the town attorney is also Schmitt’s personal attorney. The Borth family is asking that either the berm be removed or that the town use a permanent, slow water release method to reduce high water problems on their land. They also questioned why Schmitt has the authority to install the obstruction without permits or board approval. Supervisor Caine said if the board had to meet every time a ditch needed to be filled in they’d never get anything done. Town Attorney George Neuberger was not present last night but did issue an opinion last year that said the berm was ok because the ditch should not have been there in the first place. Caine says Neuberger has just returned from an extended vacation and could issue a decision on this as early as this week.

BDUSD Lawsuit Documents Turned Over, Accusations Continue

9/14/10 - An open records lawsuit filed by Beaver Dam resident Dan Grulke has been settled, but he is still asking for an explanation from the school board over their handling of an evaluation for former Superintendent Don Childs.  In court documents filed yesterday, the district agreed to pay Grulke $100 in damages and cover his legal fees of just more than $5,500.  The open records lawsuit was filed in July after Superintendent Steve Vessey turned over some, but not all, of the documents requested by Grulke. Last month, the district complied with Grulke’s request to turn over most of the records requested. In a statement earlier this week Grulke's attorneys say they confirm their assertion that the district's human resources department under Childs and Vessey's leadership was inadequate.  Included in the documents released was the fact the board had not followed the proper timeline in evaluating Childs work as Superintendent.  According to board policy, they are required to evaluate the district administrator's performance during their first year of employment and at least every third year thereafter.  The documents show that Childs, who came out of retirement to be the interim administrator in 2006, did not receive an evaluation by the board until earlier this year.  In addition, the records show the board had a number of concerns that came from the evaluation, including uneasiness with the way principals had been supervised, a lack of timely staff evaluations, and they called the cost of resolving human resources issues at the high school "disturbing."  Grulke says he wants an explanation as to why, with so many people being involved, the district's human resources could have been "so poorly managed". Superintendent Steve Vessey says the district complied in the interest of coming to a reasonable resolution with limited cost.