KRONENWETTER, WI (WSAU) — Kronenwetter Police Chief Terry McHugh will continue to shoulder some of the load of the Village’s vacant Administrator position after the Administrative Policy Committee emerged from an hour-long closed session on Wednesday with no action on the hiring of an interim Administrator.
Committee Chair and Trustee Ken Charneski says the group’s focus right now is finding someone to take the interim tag before they hire someone permanently. “Traditionally, it’s [taken] several months to find an Administrator. [We also] want to be very careful who we pick for the position.
“If we are lucky it will be sooner, but odds are this will take a while so we pretty much have to find an interim [first,]” added Charneski.
The Village has been without a full-time Administrator since the summer of 2022. Duane Gau of Public Administration Associates had been serving in the role on an interim basis for more than six months, but the Board terminated that contract in late February at Gau’s request, citing personal reasons.
During a previous board meeting the group had considered offering an interim contract for the job to Trustee Sean Dumais, though Charneski says he removed his name from consideration, adding that “a lot of politics were involved” in the decision.
Charneski adds that they are appreciative that Chief McHugh is taking on many of the Administrative duties for now, but they’d like to lighten his load soon. “The Chief is very busy, and he’s been very good about filling the position.”
Also on Wednesday, the Committee tabled discussion on a potential ethics code and ethics committee and/or village code of conduct, a matter which saw more than an hour of public input and back-and-forth between Charneski and a group of residents who have filed a petition calling for the reinstatement of an independent Ethics Commission. Members of the Administrative Policy Committee said they were hoping to look into the issue further before making a decision.
