Tim Steffen wants a seat on the Shawano County Board, but he’s having a nearly impossible time convincing Chairman Tom Kautza to appoint him to fill a vacancy.
“I have nothing personal against Tom,” Steffen said. “I disagree with him on some of his decisions, but he’s taken this to a personal level. I’m not giving up, and I’m not going anywhere at this point.”
At the June executive committee meeting, Kautza said he was working on finding a replacement supervisor for District 27, following the resignation of Tess Serrano.
Kautza first said he denied Steffen the post because Steffen is chairman of the Shawano County Republican Party, and Kautza wanted to ensure the board remained nonpartisan.
“Because the role is intended to remain strictly nonpartisan, Kautza is carefully evaluating all interest and potential candidates with a focus on preserving the impartial and nonpolitical nature of the office and its responsibilities,” according to the minutes of that June meeting.
Later, Kautza said Steffen was a source of too much controversy and drama, which would be detrimental to board operations, and that was why he was denied the appointment.
Over the last year or so, Steffen and others have been critical of Kautza when it came to ethics complaints against former Supervisor Lowel Hammett, a request for a forensic audit of the county’s books to determine if $1 million was indeed missing as asserted by Hammett, the search for an alternative location for a new courthouse and government complex and his overall leadership of the county board.
Steffen said that after Serrano’s resignation, he was approached by several people who urged him to apply for the job. He demurred at first, then reconsidered when others continued to press him.
“I called Tom, and without hesitation, he said, ‘Absolutely not,’” Steffen said. “It put me back on my heels. I offered to quit as chairman of the Republican Party. I told him I was standing up for a friend of mine (Hammett). I offered to meet him (Kautza) face to face to talk, and he hung up on me.”
Steffen said he was treated poorly at the executive committee meeting and at the June county board meeting, when Kautza refused to allow him to talk during the public comment portion.
“I can’t back down now,” Steffen said. “He insulted me in public. I’ve never been treated so shabbily in a professional setting as this.”
Steffen said he is considering writing a letter to the board and having it read aloud at the July 22 meeting when County Clerk Raymond Rigsby reads letters and correspondence received.
“After that, I may have to consider a legal course of action,” he said.
District 27 includes all of the towns of Hutchins and Almon, Mattoon and Ward 2 in Bowler.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
