Lawsuit sparks firefighters’ backlash

Members of the Grafton Fire Department  turned out in a show of solidarity at Monday’s Village Board meeting to protest a lawsuit filed by Trustee Susan Meinecke against the fire chief and village administrator, with some firefighters accusing the trustee of trying to “cripple” and “destroy” the department. 

“(The fire department) is in danger of being crippled by the continued lack of support by Sue Meinecke and a couple ill-informed candidates in the upcoming election,” said firefighter Blake Cieszynski, one of more than 30 department members who attended the meeting.

“Everyone around us is watching as our own trustee attacks our department at every opportunity.

“Who wants to volunteer for a department whose fire chief is getting sued by a village trustee for simply doing his job?”

Cieszynski spoke during the public-comments portion of the meeting.

Also criticized was Meinecke’s husband John, who is running for a Village Board seat in the April 2 election and during a candidate forum last month said the village should outsource fire protection services to a private company.

“This (the fire department) is an organization Sue and John Meinecke are trying to destroy,” firefighter Paul Riegel said. “Do they have a personal vendetta against the chief? I don’t know and I don’t care.”

Last month, Mrs. Meinecke filed a lawsuit in Ozaukee County Circuit Court against Village Administrator Jesse Thyes and Fire Chief William Rice seeking a court order compelling them to release emails they have refused to provide in response to her requests.

Meinecke is also seeking court costs and punitive damages.

In the lawsuit, Meinecke contends that the records she is seeking will prove her theory that village officials conspired against her in an effort to torpedo her 2018 re-election bid.

Although no trustees are named as defendants, Meinecke argues that at least some members of the Village Board were part of the conspiracy.

“Meinecke believes that public records exist that will prove that members of the Village Board, Thyes and Rice improperly conspired against her election campaign and made false statements about her,” according to the civil complaint filed by Meinecke. 

In the wake of a controversy over allowing firefighters to use department equipment in personal photos, Meinecke filed seven open-records requests with Thyes and Rice between July 30 and Sept. 9, 2018. The majority of requests involved emails sent or received by fire department members and Thyes. 

Meinecke received several of the records she requested. The records that were not provided, Thyes said, were properly withheld because of exemptions in Wisconsin’s Open Records Law.

“Sue (Meinecke) has bombarded the village and fire department with open-records request after open records request, and has now gone so far as filing a lawsuit against the chief,” Riegel said.

“All of this time and energy looking for a smoking gun that has yet to be found because there isn’t one.” 

Meinecke did not return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday, and neither she nor other trustees responded to the firefighters’ comments during Monday’s board meeting because the issue was not on the agenda.

Meinecke’s claims are rooted in a controversy that began shortly after Trustee David Liss was married on Dec. 31, 2017. Liss and his wife are members of the fire department and had their wedding photos taken outside the station standing in a ladder truck. 

According to the lawsuit, Meinecke met with Thyes on Jan. 26, 2018, to discuss the resignation of an employee and mentioned that a resident had asked her whether the village’s insurance policy provided liability coverage when firefighters used department equipment for personal photographs.

A month later, it was decided to prohibit the use of fire department equipment as props for personal photos.

According to the lawsuit, Thyes made the decision but Meinecke was blamed for it, and as a result she has been portrayed as being unsupportive of firefighters.

Referring to unnamed trustees, Thyes and Rice, the complaint states, “Those same individuals have a history of falsely claiming that Meinecke is generally not supportive of village fire personnel, claims that Meinecke has repeatedly and vehemently denied.”

Thyes and Rice denied the allegations.

Shortly after the policy was changed, trustees Lisa Uribe Harbeck and Dave Antoine expressed opposition to the change at a Village Board meeting. The Finance Committee changed the policy in March to again allow firefighters to use department equipment in photos.

The controversy became fodder for Meinecke’s critics leading up to the April 2018 election.