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All talk, no action on allegations in Lake Geneva

Photo

William Chesen

Photo

Mary Jo Fesenmaier

LAKE GENEVA — Mayor Bill Chesen must have wanted to make a point.

Two weeks ago, he accused Alderwoman Mary Jo Fesenmaier of making unauthorized expenditures and asked the city council to consider opening an investigation into her actions.

But Monday night, he balked and instead insisted he and city council members put aside their differences for the few weeks he has left in office.

“Nobody seems to get the point I’m trying to make,” he said. “This is no different than any of the other wild accusations made against staff by the rest of the council in the last two years. … Stop the nonsense.”

Fesenmaier in February accused city staff of mismanaging city funds in violation of state statutes. She asked the city to hire an outside attorney to look into the allegations, which included:

-- Spending money out of the undesignated reserve fund without a budget resolution approved by two-thirds of the city council in violation of state statute.\

-- Paying off the library credit card using prepaid checks, which usually are not approved by the finance committee or city council until after the bill has been paid.

-- Paying for park benches out of park impact fees in violation of state statute and paying an individual, not a company, for construction of the benches.

-- Making purchases of more than $25 out of petty cash in violation of city policy.

The council denied her request.

A couple weeks later, Chesen accused Fesenmaier of making unauthorized expenditures. He asked the city to open an investigation into the allegations, which included:

-- More than $1,000 to Nyquist Engineering of Lake Geneva for construction of the city’s new Web site.

-- More than $150 to Vandewalle and Associates, the city planner, for an audit of park impact fees.

The council hardly addressed the allegations Monday night. Instead it discussed the procedure for getting questions answered.

Chesen chastised some council members for bypassing city staff to get information.

“The policy has always been there. If you have a question, ask staff,” he said.

Fesenmaier admitted she regularly goes straight to the source but said she never was told she would be billed for the time.

“I have e-mailed or called (the city planner), and if I had received an answer and in the process, they said they were going to charge me and I said to bill the city, that would be improper and unauthorized,” she said.

Fesenmaier said she didn’t receive a bill from Vandewalle and Associates until she mentioned at a meeting that she had contacted them to find out if park impact fees could be used to pay for park benches.

“I suspect I wouldn’t have been billed previously,” she said.

Alderman Frank Marsala said some council members need to stop badgering city staff and get back to business.

“We’re wasting a lot of time,” he said. “Do we all stumble once in a while? Yes. But we waste more time bickering about it … than we spend accomplishing anything.”