March 9, 2020 at 11:54 a.m.
BREAKING: Rhinelander city administrator arrested
Daniel Guild set for initial appearance Tuesday on charge of misconduct in public office
BREAKING: Rhinelander city administrator arrested
By River News Staff-
Oneida County Sheriff's deputies arrested and booked Rhinelander city administrator Daniel Guild Monday morning and he is expected to make his initial appearance before judge Patrick O'Melia Tuesday afternoon on a charge misconduct in public office.
According to a press release from the sheriff's department, Guild was arrested at approximately 9:04 a.m.
"This arrest was the result of an open records request complaint from the Northwoods River News and subsequent execution of two State Search Warrants that were executed on Thursday, November 21, 2019, at Rhinelander City Hall located at 135 South Stevens Street. The warrants were for Tampering with Public Records and Misconduct in Public Office," the release said.
Oneida County Sheriff's detectives along with detectives from Price County Sheriff's Office, Vilas County Sheriff's Office, Marathon County Sheriff's Office, and Wisconsin Department of Justice - Digital Forensics Support assisted in this investigation.
The Oneida County District Attorney's Office will be handling the prosecution of this case, the release stated.
Late Monday afternoon, Rhinelander mayor Chris Frederickson issued the following statement regarding Guild's arrest:
"At 10:05 I first learned of this incident from the press. In response to inquiries from the Press regarding the arrest of Daniel Guild, I have verified that he has been arrested and other than that, I know nothing," Frederickson's statement read while directing further inquires to the sheriff's office or the district attorney's office.
"The city of Rhinelander has not been involved in this investigation. We are prepared to cooperate with the investigating parties whomever they may be," Frederickson's statement continued. "I have a city to protect and promise to exercise due diligence with this matter. We will continue to do the City's business. Protecting the citizens (sic) interests is the position I hold."
At the start of Monday's City Council meeting, the alderpersons voted to have a special meeting Friday at 7 p.m. To discuss what actions can be taken against Guild under the terms of his contract. The first item on the agenda for the meeting will be if the council will suspend the rules and allow George Kirby and Dawn Rog to take part in the meeting via telephone.
City attorney Steve Sorenson said the discussion on Guild will take place in closed session.
At the time of the Nov. 21 search, both paper and digital records were seized by investigators. At the time of the search, Hess did not identify a target of the investigation, search warrant returns filed in Oneida County Circuit Court on Nov. 22 include references to Guild as a "person of interest."
The warrant returns also included this paragraph: "Guild, the person of interest in reference to the search warrant, is reported to have committed various acts that could be determined to misconduct in public office and tampering with public document. As outlined in the search warrant, Guild has engaged in various acts including failure to release public records in response to requests by the media and law enforcement as well as altering email content to present it as the original."
The search warrant returns also indicated officers were seeking to locate personnel records related to former public works director Tim Kingman, who was fired in June. He has since filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in federal court that is set for trial in 2021.
In March 2019, Kingman began talking to colleagues about their experiences working with Guild and drafting a Statement of No Confidence in him.
Ultimately, the city clerk, assistant city clerk, utility clerk and an administrative assistant joined Kingman in signing the statement.
On March 11, Kingman presented the document to the Common Council during the public comment portion of that evening's meeting. After noting he was speaking as a citizen on his own time, Kingman stated that Guild "had created of a hostile work environment explaining that intimidation and fear of retribution existed and controlled the workplace."
On April 22, "seven employees of the DPW, together with a former DPW employee, attended the common council meeting and expressed they had been subject to conditions of harassment and retaliation in the workplace and had been for years and they feared for their jobs," the complaint in the lawsuit states.
An investigation into the complaints made at the April 22 meeting by attorney James Macy and Rick Hermus, who were engaged by the city to investigating the matter began. Kingman was also advised that Macy and Hermus wanted to meet with him. However, according to the complaint, Kingman refused to participate in the interview because "the matter was going to be handled in secret instead of open session before the common council..."
An interview with Macy and Hermus eventually took place in May. Kingman was placed on "administrative leave" on June 3, at which time he was no longer allowed on city property nor communicate with any city employee unless authorized by Guild or mayor Chris Frederickson. He was fired three weeks later by a 4-4 vote of the city council with Frederickson voting to break the tie.
In August, 2019, Guild sent an email to the River News, in response to an open records request filed 13 months earlier asking for Kingman's personnel file, advising that the file had been "inappropriately removed" from city files.
Guild was hired Sept. 17, 2018 as the city's new administrator, and had served as the village administrator in Weston prior to coming to Rhinelander.
The sheriff's department is working with the Oneida County Corporation Counsel with matters related to Wisconsin Open Records Law.
Comments:
You must login to comment.