GRAND CHUTE, Wis–A group is attempting to rally support for the Grand Chute Town Board’s effort to fire Administrator Jim March. WHBY News has been provided a copy of an email sent out by Citizens for Truth–Grand Chute asking residents to attend Tuesday night’s annual Town Board Meeting.
The email accuses Supervisor Brad Gehring of attempting to block the firing of March by recruiting residents opposed to the move to take part in public comment at the meeting:
Please attend our Annual Grand Chue (sic) Town Board Meeting next Tuesday, April 18, at 6:30 PM at the Town Hall.
You may be aware that there is currently a controversy in our Town regarding a desire by Town Board Chairman Jason Van Eperen to retain a new Town Administrator as he begins his second term in office. An Administrator serves at the ‘pleasure of the Board.’ When a new Chairperson takes office in a Township, he / she will retain the services of a new Administrator to help implement the direction residents want.
When first elected two years ago, Chairman Van Eperen chose to retain Jim March as Administrator. However, as he begins a new two-year term, Chairman Van Eperen has expressed a desire to make a change. This change is being resisted by Supervisor Brad Gehring who typically organizes a group of people to attend meetings and speak in support of his desired direction. Oftentimes, this includes involving speakers who will discredit the direction being proposed, and also discredit other Board members. These “grand-standing” antics need to stop if the Board is going to be successful in implementing direction that strong majorities of residents want.
Chairman Van Eperen won 67% of the vote in our recent Spring Election, but he is constantly being fought by Supervisor Gehring and the group of people he organizes. Having Board members with divergent viewpoints is important to an effective Board, but the strong-arm tactics intended to achieve results by means of bullying cannot be tolerated by our residents.
If you support the direction our Town is now taking, including the elimination of special assessments, it is important that you attend our annual Town Meeting this coming Tuesday, April 18, to lend your support to Chairman Van Eperen, and to stop the political games that continue to be orchestrated by Supervisor Gehring.
Thank you, Citizens for Truth – Grand Chute
Citizens for Truth–Grand Chute is not registered as political action committee with the state. It appears in a handful of Facebook posts, and is tied to a website that reposts stories from local news sites and opinion pieces.
