Shawano County supervisors voted Aug. 26 to override the decision of its own rules committee when it comes to filling vacancies on the board.
Supervisor Randy Mallmann wants the names and statements of qualifications of interested candidates forwarded to members of the executive committee and the full board, with the intent that supervisors would act on the chairman’s recommendation at the following board meeting, giving them more time to assess the candidates.
The rules committee voted down his proposal Aug. 20; less than a week later, the full board voted to adopt Mallmann’s proposal.
“If we continue to go down this road, we’re going to continue to have the same issues,” he said in reference to Chairman Tom Kautza’s decision to deny a recommendation to have Tim Steffen fill a vacancy in District 27. “It is clear to me personally that … we truly had a candidate that was qualified for this open seat … and it was overlooked, and my belief was for personal reasons.”
Instead, in July, Kautza recommended Steve Pollock for the post, and the board confirmed the choice.
“The vote got pushed until the right candidate was found,” Mallmann said.
The issue takes on more importance now as there is another vacancy on the board to fill. District 5 Supervisor Charles Anderson recently resigned due to health reasons.
Mallmann also noted the problem with the rules committee and others is that the board chairman has too much power in appointing supervisors to those committees.
“We may have to look at another rule: How much power does the county chairperson have?” Mallmann said.
He noted that he was not saying Kautza is not right for the job; rather, in his time on the board, he has noted a certain level of favoritism when it comes to committee appointments.
Supervisor Steve Schinke, rules committee chairman, said the proposal was discussed in length by the committee.
“We decided that it should stay the way it is,” he said.
Supervisor Bill Switalla said the board should leave the rules as they are.
“I’ve been here for 15 years, and in 15 years, we have never had this issue,” he said. “It’s just a circumstance. I don’t believe it will ever come up again.”
Switalla also said every organization needs to have someone in charge, and the board chose Kautza for this role.
“Somebody has to have the power. Somebody has to be the boss in anything we do. There’s always a boss,” he said. “He doesn’t have to have total power, and he doesn’t have total power. He picks somebody; we vote on it. If we don’t like that person, we don’t have to vote on him.”
Several supervisors suggested holding a special election to fill the vacancy.
County Clerk Raymond Rigsby reminded them the cost for a special election is about $7,500, and the process to hold such an election would take a few months.
“This is an interim appointment to a two-year term,” Matt Pleshek said, adding that he didn’t think the cost for a special election for a 27-member board makes sense to him.
Supervisors agreed to the other rules committee recommendation, which will open public comment at the board meeting to any topic, not just those on the agenda.
Comments will still be limited to three minutes, which can be altered at the discretion of the board chairman.
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