Fifield town board cautioned for ‘use of position in communications’

The Fifield town board was cautioned with regard to elected officials’ or town employees’ use of position in communications during its meeting April 16.

This comes after a March 18 letter was written by town supervisor Ann Sloane to Price County board chairman Alan Barkstrom and county supervisor Jason Hastings in support of a Fifield resort being able to expand its camping sites by way of the county permitting process.

“For the reasons I have mentioned, as Town of Fifield Supervisor and a Pike Lake resident, I fully support (the resort’s owners) in their efforts to expand (their business) while at the same time revitalizing and supporting our community and neighboring local businesses,” she said in the letter, which was never authorized by the board even though it was signed by Sloane in her official capacity as supervisor. 

Deputy town clerk Kelly Kleinschmidt told the board during the April 16 meeting “when this topic came up” she emailed the town’s attorney, Bryce Schoenborn for advice on “how to go about handling this.”

She indicated Schoenborn explained how the item should be labeled written on the agenda: “Discuss Caution to Officials and Employees Regarding Perceived Use of Position in Communications.”

Sloane explained her reasoning for writing the letter. She said the resort owners contacted her asking if she could “help them out with this.”

“As far as I know, capitalism is still alive and well in the United States,” Sloane said. “But I also reached out to the Wisconsin Towns Association attorney to make sure I could write the letter, and so (as) long I didn’t say it was on behalf of the board, but it was on behalf of myself, I could. Because that’s considered my First Amendment right. So I did do my homework. It fell within the parameters of the First Amendment.”

Resident Butch Lobermeier, who made a comment at the beginning of the meeting with regard to the letter Sloane had written, indicated he felt like Sloane was “addressing” him and asked her if she was.

“I’m just addressing anyone who wants to hear it,” she replied.

A short back and forth was exchanged between the two before town chairman Bill Felch interjected to put a stop to it. 

“The only time I wrote that I was a town supervisor is the end, the very last section,” Sloane said, reading the section of the letter previously quoted. The letter was addressed and signed by Sloane with mention of her supervisor status as well.

One member of the audience asked why she couldn’t have just written the letter as a resident only. 

Sloane said “in hindsight” she probably should have. However, she said it was within her “legal rights to do so.”

“So, as far as I’m concerned, when I’m writing a letter, I do not put my position of what I am, president of the sanitary district, Fifield fire chief, town chairman,” Felch said. “I do put my name. If it’s official business, I use chairman, fire chief or president.”

“And in the future I will,” Sloane said. “But I did check.”

Another member of the audience asked if the letter was drafted on a blank sheet of paper or a piece of paper with the town’s official letterhead. 

Sloane pointed out the letter was drafted on a piece of blank paper and Felch confirmed. 

After the audience member expanded on his thoughts regarding the matter, town supervisor John Smith asked if the board will devise “rules or regulations” to reference during instances like this in the future.

Kleinschmidt said she thinks Schoenborn advised the board to address what happened “so everybody is aware what should happen from here on out.”

“That’s how I understood it,” she said. “So everybody’s on the same page.”

Lobermeier’s comments

Lobermeier, a resident who has made critical comments of the board and Sloane in the past with regard to a number of things in recent history, read a prepared statement during the public comment portion of the meeting. 

He said it was “evident” Sloane used her position as town supervisor to sway county officials into approving the conditional use permit needed for the resort to expand its campsites.

“In my opinion, advocating in one’s official capacity outside the authority of full town board discussion and decision is an abuse of power by the offending supervisor,” he said. “Such acts are contrary to the intent of Wisconsin’s open meetings law and deprive citizens, who hold opposing views, of their right to fair and unbiased assessment by their elected town government officials.”

Lobermeier referred to Sloane as a “rogue supervisor” that acted “unilaterally to advance a personal agenda.”

“How many times must Fifield endure this unnecessary drama?” he asked. 

Other matters

The town board at its April 16 meeting also:

• Tabled the opening of crack seal bids. 

• Tabled any decision with regard to a notice of injury and claim the town was served after resident Tom Birchell filed a lawsuit alleging Sloane directed a targeted property assessment against him during a board of review meeting last year following a roughly half-hour closed session discussion.

• Agreed to send a dispatch request letter to the Price County Sheriff’s Office. 

“The Fifield town board is requesting automatic dispatching of Fifield Fire Department district one and Pike Lake Fire Department district two for all fire and accident calls in either district,” Kleinschmidt said while reading the letter. “We asked that you page as follows: Fifield Fire Department district one first, for fire calls within district one, and Pike Lake Fire Department repeater district number two, first for calls within district number two. This will ensure that the closest department to the incident will respond the quickest to the scene. For strictly medical/EMS emergencies, we request, Fifield first responders will only be paged out for calls within district one; Pike Lake first responders will only be paged out for calls within district two.”

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].