• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Settlement possible in Darien open meetings case

ELKHORN — The Darien Village Board and the Walworth County District Attorney’s Office could reach a settlement before the board goes to trial.

All seven board members have been charged with violating the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.

The board on Friday afternoon appeared in court for a pre-trial conference. The case was continued and the board will appear in court again at 1:30 p.m. May 5, village attorney David Danz said.

The charges are not criminal, but each board member faces three counts, each carrying a forfeiture of $25 to $300.

On March 11, the board members pleaded not guilty.

After the hearing that day, Assistant District Attorney Diane Donohoo met individually with six of the board members and made settlement offers.

All six—President Robert Metzner and board members Robert Wenzel, James Abbott, Phil Putman, Kurt Zipp and Allen Kenyon—refused Donohoo’s offer.

The men each told The Janesville Gazette that Donohoo offered to settle if they changed their pleas to guilty and paid a $100 fine.

Board member Craig McCue did not meet with Donohoo that day because he planned to retain an attorney. The other board members represented themselves.

According to sheriff’s office records obtained by the Gazette:

-- An Oct. 24 session during which board members interviewed candidates for village administrator was not posted.

-- Notices for Oct. 27 and Nov. 18 closed session meetings were incomplete.

The charges took a brief back burner to a legal struggle to block the release to The Janesville Gazette of disciplinary records that led to the board firing Police Chief Steve DeVoy.

Hours before the board sat in Walworth County Judge Robert Kennedy’s court on the open meetings charges, Kennedy ordered the DeVoy records released.

According to the reports, DeVoy filed a complaint about the Nov. 18 meeting with the sheriff’s office. Reports do not indicate who filed the complaints about the other two meetings.

Things likely could come to a settlement before the case goes to trial, Danz said.

Board members could agree to attend an open meetings law training session, and the village is investigating changing the way it posts meetings, Danz said.