BARABOO – The Wisconsin Department of Justice has found that Sauk County officials should have provided more specific notice to the public before adopting new procedures for handling employee complaints and fraud investigations, the Baraboo News Republic reported. The DOJ’s findings are in response to an Open Meetings Law complaint the newspaper filed in January.
In a letter the newspaper received Thursday, DOJ Assistant Attorney General Sarah Larson wrote that the agenda for a Dec. 1, 2017, meeting of the board’s Personnel Committee “should have been more specific.” She also wrote that the state agency will not pursue an enforcement action against the county officials named in the complaint, as she does not believe they intended to circumvent the law, and that the case “does not appear to present novel issues of law that coincide with matters of statewide concern.”
The meeting notice included an item listed as “Policies/Ordinance Update” — a reoccurring discussion on the committee’s monthly agendas that typically resulted in no meaningful action, News Republic reporter Tim Damos wrote. However, during the meeting in question, the committee took action under the agenda item to approve a policy that set forth new employee complaint procedures. It also voted to hire an outside firm to accept anonymous reports of fraud and ethics violations.
