Crivitz Recall Vote Dec. 29, Kwiatkowski Resigns Post At a brief special meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, Crivitz School Board accepted the resignation of long-time member David Kwiatkowski, who is the subject of a recall petition that was certified on Monday, Nov. 16. His resignation took effect immediately after Thursday’s meeting.
The original recall petition, with 668 signatures, was filed in the District Office on April 27, and found to be sufficient in a ruling issued by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) on Thursday, Nov. 5. The ruling was signed by Kevin J. Kennedy, Director and General Counsel of the GAB.
In his letter of resignation Kwiatkowski stated:
“It has been my intention to retire my seat at the completion of my term in the spring of 2010. I will begin a two year tern as the president of the Wisconsin Council of Administrators Special Services in July of 2010 and I am currently completing a statewide research project for the completion of my doctorate. Combined with my increasing professional duties, these will not allow me the time and focus I feel are necessary to continue as an effective board member for the school district that I so love.
“After much soul searching, I feel that it is best to retire my seat immediately in order to afford the School Board as many options as possible for filling the vacant seat. I also have great confidence in our current administrative team, Dr. Robert Cavanaugh, Mr. Pat Mans and Mr. Jeff Baumann and feel that if the Board demonstrates the wisdom to trust in their professional leadership, my presence on the board will hardly be missed.
“I wish to thank all the taxpayers and stakeholders in the School District of Crivitz and all my fellow school board members over the past 10 years. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve you.”
Cavanaugh said Friday, Nov. 13, that even though Kwiatkowski has resigned, there will be a recall election. It is to be held on Tuesday, Dec. 29. Based on statutory timelines the due date for Declaration of Candidacy forms to be turned in at the District Office for that election is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1. If there are no Declaration of Candidacy forms filed there will still be a recall election on Dec. 29 and all ballots will be write-ins. The person with the most votes will win.
However, since Kwiatkowski’s term expires in April, the term of whoever is chosen in the recall election will also expire at that time.
Notices of the regular spring election will soon be published, advising the electorate that three board seats (including the one vacated by Kwiatkowski) will be open. Notice for the recall election may appear at the same time the regular election notice appears in the paper, Dr. Cavanaugh said. Since the position being recalled expires this spring, the person who wins the recall election will have to run in the spring election and thus will have to file two Declarations, one for the recall election and one for the regular election.
In a letter accompanying the formal ruling, Kennedy commented, “This matter was complex and very unique in nature, requiring significant staff tine to complete” He said the GAB, “carefully and thoroughly reviewed the submissions of all parties, as well as the Crivitz Police Department investigation file.” The ruling includes a 30-day window to file an appeal with Circuit Court.
In the ruling, Kennedy reported on April 27, Mrs. Jackie Fickler registered a committee to conduct a recall of Kwiatkowski and another board member. In a May 1 newsletter, then-administrator Ron Saari officially informed the board of the recall notice and said 668 signatures were required to certify the matter for a recall election. GAB relied upon that calculation for the purposes of this complaint/appeal.
On June 24, Kris Heidewald, of the District Administration office staff, reminded Fickler that June 25 was the last day to file the recall petition signatures. Fickler filed the petition on June 25. Other recall committee members, or persons associated with the recall, who were present at the filing included Todd Fickler, Pete Pfankuch, and Jolene Huc. District Clerk Virginia (Ginger) Deschane, was not present, but Saari was, and he received the petition and signed a receipt confirming they had received 74 pages of signatures. Those pages were numbered one through 73, but there were two pages with the number 17.
On June 26, Fickler hand delivered four additional petition signature pages to Clerk Deschane At her home.
On July 1, Kwiatkowski filed a written challenge to the petition with Clerk Deschane.
On July 5, Clerk Deschane wrote a letter acknowledging receipt of the recall petition pages numbered one through 73. She clarified that 668 signatures were needed and she only validated 657 signatures. She said the four additional pages, numbered 75 through 78, were not reviewed and signatures were not included in the total because they were received after the June 25 deadline. Kennedy’s ruling commented that from the record before the GAB it appeared Deschane never independently verified the 60 day deadline.
Also on July 5, Deschane wrote to Kwiatkowski acknowledging his challenge and confirming the petition was insufficient. She also partly denied his challenges, and confirmed the four additional pages of signatures were not considered due to their late filing. She further declined to recluse herself from her statutory duties to review the recall petition as clerk and declined to consider the sufficiency of the reasons for recall stated on the petition.
In her notice of intent to circulate the recall petition against Kwiatkowski Fickler stated:
“1. At the April 15th Board meeting, he made false statements to the public about his vote on consolidated bus stops, as shown by the official minutes of the March 18th meeting;
“2. He voted on important issues without obtaining costs or facts; and
“3. He turned over his elected duties of the School Board to the Administration.”
After further exchanges, on July 24, Deschane filed a formal Certificate of Sufficiency and directed the school board to call a recall election. Some of those exchanges included a refusal by Deschane to fill Kwiatkowski’s request under the Open Records Law for copies of the four additional pages of signatures.
On July 27, Kwiatkowski filed a six page statement with the Crivitz Police Department, alleging in part that Clerk Deschane abused her office and committed open records violation by refusing to lprovide him with copies of the additional four pages of signatures.
On July 29 he filed a complaint/appeal with the GAB against Deschane and her sufficiency decision. His complaint included an allegation of bias by Deschane, since she had signed one of the petitions. The three general categories of his appeal were that the petitioners’ stated reasons for the recall were not based on fact, were not clear, and were nonsensical; incorporation by reference a July 1 challenge to the sufficiency of the petitions, with specific challenges to 241 of he signatures for various reasons, and an allegation that Deschane had not followed proper procedure.
In mid-August Deschane filed responses with the Crivitz Police Department and the GAB.
Kennedy ruled that the late filing of the four pages of petition signatures was due to incorrect information provided to them by Deschane and Saari, and found, based on interpreting statutes liberally in favor of the electorate, “Clerk error should not be a basis to preclude the review and addition of any valid signatures from the four additional petition pages filled with Deschane on June 26.”
His ruling included an order that Deschane and the Crivitz School District issue a new Certificate of Sufficiency or Insufficiency consistent with his compliance order and state law. That notice of sufficiency was issued by Deschane on Monday, Oct. 16, according to Dr. Cavanaugh.
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