Port Washington City Administrator Melissa Gossett must give a deposition in an open records lawsuit filed by a Town of Port Washington resident seeking information about the Vantage Data Centers Lighthouse Campus, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Adam Gerol ruled in late May.
A June 4, 2026 article in the Ozaukee Press covered the ruling. According to the story:
Gerol ruled against a protective order sought by the city that would have shielded Gossett from being deposed, paving the way for her testimony to be taken. “I don’t see a basis to issue a protective order,” he said.
In court filings, the city argued that depositions given by Mayor Ted Neitzke and City Clerk Susan Westerbeke should be adequate.
But Attorney Christa Westerberg, whose client Lynde Uihlein submitted the records Westerbeke said in their depositions that they did not know about the existence of drafts of a developer’s agreement ultimately approved by the city. Documents given to Uihlein by the city do not include drafts of the developer’s agreement, Westerberg said, adding that those documents are not protected or confidential.
Gerol also ruled that Uihlein, who filed the open records lawsuit, does not need to give a deposition in the case, something sought by the city.
Attorney Mark Schmidt of von Briesen & Roper, who represents the city, said he did not intend to question Uihlein regarding her motives in seeking the records but instead to determine if she believed the city had complied with her records request. He noted that the city had turned over more than 5,000 pages of information, adding, “there’s really very little left here in terms of discovery.”
Whether the city has complied with Uihlein’s request isn’t determined by whether she believes it has been met, Westerberg said, but instead it is a question of law. Gerol agreed, saying, “Whether a requester believes they received all the information is not relevant, I don’t believe.”
Uihlein’s open records request seeks any communications between city staff Vantage, and Kapur Engineering regarding the data center, including communications regarding the development agreement, any draft development agreement that had been exchanged, preliminary building, site, operational, stormwater, sanitary sewer, utility, water or other plans for the data center and the city’s zoning map.
The city did not respond to the August request, which was sent to Westerbeke, the lawsuit states, and on Oct. 29 one of Uihlein’s sent a follow up email regarding the request. When the lawsuit was filed on Nov. 24, records had not been produced.
Gerol set another hearing on the case for Aug. 10.
