Kronenwetter committee fails to disclose administrator candidate, but we found out who it is

There might be a reason they kept the name secret

The village of Kronenwetter following a closed session forwarded the names of candidates, one each, for village administrator and for village treasurer.

The acting chair of the committee worded it as “the selected candidate” in each case. Just one problem. That’s illegal.

State statutes (specifically chapter 19.36(7) spells out that candidates for a public office must be disclosed to the public. If there are five or more candidates being considered, names must be disclosed when the candidate pool is narrowed down to fewer than five.

In this case, the Administrative Policy Committee selected exactly one name for each position (in the case of administrator, out of exactly one applicant). So those absolutely ought to be considered open record and they should have been disclosed to the public. The public has a right to know who is being considered.

Why? Because the public has a right to scrutinize the choice before it’s finalized. They have a right to look into that person.

But also, it’s the law.

Personally as a reporter I am more interested in who is being considered for the administrator position than for the treasurer position. (Though that could change, depending on who it is.)

That said, I found out who the candidates are. And that’s where things get interesting…