BREAKING: Kronenwetter's administrator put in his two week's notice

Leonard Ludi is leaving the village, backlash to Monk Botanical Gardens

Update: Added commentary from Board Member Ken Charneski and Village President Chris Voll.

Leonard Ludi resigned his post as Kronenwetter administrator less than four months after being appointed.

The Wausonian confirmed from two board members that Ludi submitted his two-week’s notice on Saturday in an email.

The Wausonian then obtained a copy of the email sent out Saturday night:

Ludi, who worked as the village’s public works director, was hired for the administrator job in January, the village’s first permanent administrator since long-time administrator Richard Downey left the village in 2022. In the time between, the village has had a number of interim administrators, including Kim Manley (who is being sued by board member Ken Charneski - and the update), Dan Mahoney and Duane Gau.

Downey left in a storm of controversy in which former village staff members told The Wausonian that certain board members were toxic and driving people out of the village.

The Wausonian covered the fiasco in our multi-part investigation series Big Trouble in Little Kronenwetter:

Ludi faced a tough situation The Wausonian reported on in March around the village having bought a fire truck without technically approving the loan for that fire truck. Ludi, along with the village’s new finance director, was essentially thrust into the middle of the situation and left to sort it out.

Board member Kelly Coyle sent a statement to The Wausonian regarding Ludi’s resignation:

This is very unfortunate as it was completely avoidable. Mr. Ludi has been an excellent manager and administrator for Kronenwetter.

I believe with complete certainty that his resignation is the result of a nearly constant barrage of emails from one village board trustee in which Mr. Ludi has been told how to do his job, has had veiled threats made regarding his performance, and been unduly criticized for doing exactly what he has been tasked by the village board to do.

I would invite any interested parties to submit a public information request for all emails from village board members to village staff over the past 6 weeks. In my opinion, there is a complete lack of professionalism, tact, and respect for village employees in the communications from that Trustee.

I don't blame Mr. Ludi for his decision to leave. If my job performance was constantly being criticized and threatened by someone like that, I would almost certainly come to the same decision. Mr. Ludi has been the epitome of professionalism in his time at the Village of Kronenwetter, and I know that his steadying presence will be greatly missed.

Board Member Ken Charneski had a different opinion:

We knew Leonard was technically not qualified (education and background) for the job, based on the job description, but everyone seemed to love him as the Public Works Director, so the Board took a chance on hiring him as administrator, stipulating the normal 90 day probation period.

90 days is about up, and while the decision to resign was entirely his, I don't think it was a surprise to anyone. Leonard has many skills to offer, but I think he realized that he was not the best fit for this particular position as Village Administrator.

We could do a mini-series on the events, conflicts, and performance failures of various people that have transpired here in the last 90 days that Leonard was expected to to deal with, but really not equipped to do so effectively.

I think he had conflicting expectations put on him form different directions, and issues to deal with that he may not have anticipated when he took the Administrator job, so he is moving on.

But Board President Chris Voll said Ludi’s departure was unfortunate, and put the village in a tough spot:

He mentioned to me that it was time to move on. I hate to see him go, we were starting to get on track.

This will put the village behind where we were at the new year, as we are down a PW director also.

The Wausonian has reached out to Village President Chris Voll asking for comment and how the village plans to handle the departure. The Wausonian will update this story if Voll responds.

The Wausonian also reached out to Ludi to ask if he wanted to elaborate on the “considerable concerns” he said made it difficult to do his job. We will update this post if we get a response.

Gardens board to discuss name change

The uproar over the board of the Monk Botanical Gardens changing it to Wausau Botanic Gardens hasn’t died down, and now the board is potentially reconsidering the name change.

Director Darcie Howard told multiple media outlets that the board will be meeting this week to discuss the name change. Board president Paul David told WAOW that the board will meet today in order to discuss the change.

Meanwhile, a petition to restore the name Monk Botanical Gardens has now gathered 6,200 signatures. The Wausonian reached out to the person who started the petition but has not heard back. And a promise by a change.org rep to add our last story to the petition page has not been fulfilled.

Meanwhile, every Facebook post from the gardens has angry reactions, and some are saying they’re being blocked from commenting on the Gardens’ posts, or blocked outright.

The name change has even appeared to do the impossible - unite the right and the left. The Wausonian has observed people on both sides of the political divide decry the name change.

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