Tom Kautza will serve another term as chairman of the Shawano County Board and Randy Young will be the vice chairman once again.
Selection of the two supervisors by their peers occurred April 20 at the board’s reorganizational meeting.
The choice was not made without controversy.
Richard Kucksdorf, Bonduel, urged supervisors to choose others, declaring Kautza and Young unfit for the role.
“I spoke to you two months ago about the kangaroo court involving Lowel Hammett and his effort to correct actions by a full-time county employee and to protect Shawano County employees,” Kucksdorf said, referring to Hammett’s desire for an investigation into then-Administrative Coordinator Jim Davel. “Kautza and Young led the charge to sweep this under the rug, kick the can down the road.”
Kucksdorf also criticized the men for their role in the plans to build a new courthouse. He said there needs to more of a joint effort between the county and the city of Shawano.
“Kautza and Young have been leading this effort,” he said. “They do not deserve to be on the county board.”
Kucksdorf was also critical of Larenda Maulson, corporation counsel.
He said a Freedom of Information Act request was made Oct. 3, 2025, which was turned over to Maulson.
“The time limit for a FOIA is 20 days,” Kucksdorf said. “To date, nothing. Kautza was involved in hiring Maulson. A lawsuit is justified.
“Kautza has demonstrated incompetence over and over, and Randy Young has stood firmly by his side. You deserve to be led by more competent people than Young and Kautza.”
Kautza’s response was brief and to the point.
“I think we got the county on the right track right now, and everything is going pretty good,” he said. “We got some outside people that like to try and influence this board, We don’t need it. There’s enough drama created here on its own. We got to eliminate that and move forward.”
Kautza won on the first ballot, defeating Joe Miller and Tess Serrano. Young won on the first ballot, defeating Serrano and James Przybylski.
The highway and parks committee members are also elected by the board, with one member each from the eastern, central and western parts of the county.
For the east position, Terry Tipton was chosen in three ballots, defeating Jeremy Gretzinger, Przybylski and Steve Schinke. Matt Pleshek’s name was also put forward, but he decline the nomination.
For the central position, Al Kuhn was picked in three ballots, topping Jacob Hartwig, Randy Mallmann and Mike Wizner.
The western post was won Rick Giese in two ballots, defeating Steve Natzke, Lynn Tober-Steinke and Miller.
The committee on committees will meet to aid the county board chairman in choosing which supervisors serve on the other standing committees.
Prior to the start of the business portion of the meeting, all supervisors were sworn into office, including newcomers Charles Anderson, 5th district; Curt Korth, 16th; and James Radtke, 22nd.
Newly elected District 2 Supervisor Collin Pomplun was absent.
