GRAND CHUTE, Wis–Fired Grand Chute Town Administrator James March is suing the three supervisors that orchestrated his ouster.
James March vs Grand Chute Town Board by Jonathan Krause on Scribd
According to the complaint filed by March, he and other employees of the town were targeted for hostility by Supervisors Ron Wolff, Jeff Ings, and Town Chairman Jason Van Eperen after “cooperating with a state Department of Justice investigation into illegal activities by one or more town board members“.
The complaint also claims that Wolff, Ings, and Van Eperen became “obsessed” with the D-O-J investigation this spring, and moved to fire March after former Supervisor Walt Nocito lost his bid for re-election, and that the trio wanted to act before they lost the two-thirds majority on the board needed to fire the administrator.
March also argues that his firing was a violation of his first amendment rights to free speech.
Meanwhile, a resolution on Tuesday night’s Grand Chute Town Board agenda would re-hire March as Administrator.
Grand Chute Town Board Agenda for 6/6/23 by Jonathan Krause on Scribd
The resolution was brought forward by Supervisor Beth English, who initially voted to terminate March’s contract in a closed session meeting last month.
Also, a formal complaint filed with the Outagamie County District Attorney’s Office by former Town Chairman David Schowalter about the failure to properly post the meeting where March was fired was passed directly to the Department of Justice with no local investigation.
Tuesday is the final day that March was contracted to be Town Administrator.
