The chairman of the Town of Delafield has sued the Delafield Common Council and Mayor Tim Aicher over what he says is a violation of the state open meetings law, but also has three more complaints involving Delafield pending with the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office, he told The Freeman on Friday.
A piece in the March 21, 2026 issue of The Waukesha Freeman detailed the complaint. According to the story:
On Thursday, Kranick filed suit against the Delafield Common Council and Aicher, alleging the city violated the state open meetings law. Kranick said the council met in closed session Oct. 20 to hear a proposal from the Western Lakes Fire District to provide fire and emergency services to the city, which is currently served by Lake Country Fire & Rescue.
He said in the complaint that the state open records law allows for closed-session meetings only when competitive or bargaining reasons require confidentiality. But the agenda for the meeting indicated the closed session “involved a presentation of a proposal rather than active negotiations or bargaining strategy. Wisconsin case law … makes clear that informational presentations or policy discussions do not qualify for this exemption and must be conducted in open session,” his suit said.
Kranick requested that the district attorney investigate the matter, determine whether a violation occurred and pursue any corrective or enforcement action allowed by law. Kranick filed a verified complaint with the District Attorney’s Office Feb. 25 and said he has not heard back about it.
After 20 days without a response, state law allows for a lawsuit in the matter, Kranick said Friday.
Aicher on Thursday ripped the suit as a “bizarre politically motivated stunt.”
“It’s time for the election and it’s unfortunate someone feels (a need) to do that to influence a different municipality, but it’s America, right?” he said Thursday. Aicher said his comment remains the same as when he responded to the complaint Kranick filed with the D.A.’s Office, when he told The Freeman: ‘‘It is fundamental to the City of Delafield that we provide our residents with transparent access to our meetings. The City will always comply with the law, including rules regarding open meetings and the competitive negotiation of long-term contracts involving millions of dollars of taxpayer money.”
When Kranick wrote Aicher last June 3, advising him of an article related to open meetings that was in The Freeman, he said he hoped that would lead the city to be sure to comply with open meetings laws related to closed sessions discussing LCFR matters.
“You do not have to ‘hope’ for the city’s compliance with the law, you can rely on it,” Aicher replied to Kranick. Aicher asked Kranick what in the article led him to think the city wasn’t complying with the law, then told him to “Please worry about something else.”
Kranick denied that his suit, and other complaints filed recently with the D.A.’s office, were political.
“It’s definitely not political. I understand he’s in a contested mayor’s race but he could have taken the high road and not tell me there is nothing to see here,” Kranick said. “He could have acted in a civil way and he didn’t, he continued to act in a way not consistent with transparent and open government.”
Other complaints
Kranick also on Friday provided The Freeman with three other verified complaints he’s filed with District Attorney Lesli Boese’s office.
On March 2, Kranick filed a verified complaint about the Delafield Common Council over issues similar to those in his suit. He said a June 16 meeting of the Common Council went into closed session to discuss proposed amendments to the LCFR Intermunicipal Agreement.
“Based on communications circulated prior to the meeting, the matters discussed appear to have included policy positions, governance structure, financial methodology, and strategic direction. These subjects constitute governmental deliberation and policymaking that are ordinarily required to be conducted in open session unless a narrowly construed statutory exemption applies,” his complaint reads. “Additional concerns include serial communications among members of the governmental body that may have created a walking or negative quorum outside a properly noticed meeting.”
Kranick asked Boese’s office to review the matter to determine whether open meetings laws were violated.
A second complaint, filed March 3 about the WLFD, complained that when that body’s governing board met in closed session on Aug. 25, 2025, its agenda said it was to discuss a request for a proposal for fire and emergency services from Delafield, revisions to service contract with the towns of Ashippun and Concord, and possible action on same. Further, the agenda said the body “will not reconvene into open session at the conclusion of the closed session, and if appropriate, the board may act upon matters discussed in closed session.”
Kranick’s complaint said the topics were “general policy and planning matters. They do not constitute active negotiation strategy nor inherently require secrecy for competitive or bargaining reasons.” He said state law requires bodies meeting in closed session to reconvene into open session unless the notice explicitly provides otherwise. He said because the closed session was not legally authorized, any action taken in it violates state law.
WLFD Chief Bradley Bowen said Friday he was unaware of a complaint filed against the WLFD, and declined to comment other than to say that “these were contract negotiations and we did run that by legal counsel as we were evaluating and negotiating the terms that this does fall under the contract for a closed session.”
Kranick also filed a verified complaint with the D.A.’s on Thursday requesting an investigation “concerning the potential use of taxpayer-funded municipal communications for campaign-related purposes in the City of Delafield.” He attached a copy of the city’s newsletter from January, which contained a message from Aicher in which Aicher said: “I remain honored to serve as your Mayor as I end my first term and look forward to another.”
“The statement may reasonably be interpreted in the context of an electoral cycle. Public resources were used to produce and distribute the communication,” the complaint said. “This raises a question whether such communication could confer political advantage. Under Wis. Stat. SS 19.45, public officials may not use office for private benefit.”
Aicher said Friday he hadn’t seen the latter complaints and could not comment on them. Delafield City Attorney Kathryn Sawyer-Gutenkunst said she hadn’t seen the complaints, and couldn’t offer a comment other than: “I find all of this unfortunate in light of the agreement that will be coming in the very near future for anyone served by Lake Country Fire & Rescue,” as an amended intermunicipal agreement is nearly finalized.
The D.A.’s Office did not offer a comment on the complaint when asked.
But Kranick said he was ready to press the issues: “I think at the end of the day there is something to see here and we’ll see what the D.A. says and if I have to file more lawsuits I am ready to file more lawsuits to get to the bottom of these things.”
