Trusted treasurer bids adieu

A lot has changed in the last 21 years, but one unchanging fixture at Saukville Village Hall has been Treasurer Vicki Lee.

But that also will change around May 1 when Lee plans to retire.

“Saukville has been a great place to work,” she said Tuesday. “It’s been wonderful.”

The village’s administrative staff has remained unchanged for the last 16 years with Lee as treasurer, Village Clerk Mary Kay Baumann, Administrative Assistant Michelle Jaeger and Village Administrator Dawn Wagner.

“The village appreciates Vicki’s 20 years  of  hard work, dedication and excellent service to the Village of Saukville,” Wagner wrote in an email. “Her retirement is truly deserved and she will be greatly missed.”

Lee said the village office staff has been “very close.”

“We’ve been together in the office for the last 16 years,” she said. “That’s a long time for people to be working together.”

Lee was deputy treasurer for the City of Port Washington for 17 years when then-Village Administrator Chris Lear asked her to become Saukville’s treasurer.

“He called and said, ‘You want to be treasurer over here?’” she laughed.

“It was pretty exciting. They hadn’t closed out the books for 1998, so there was a lot to do.”

Things soon became even more exciting, but not in a good way.

In going through the village’s financial records, Lee discovered discrepancies in the amount of money being received by the village and what was entered in its general fund.

What Lee uncovered was evidence that her predecessor, Pamela Pflughoeft, had embezzled more than $66,374 in village funds from 1995 through 1998.

Pflughoeft was found guilty in 2001 and sentenced to nine years in prison and 15 years probation. That was amended in 2003 to six years in prison.    

According to a transcript of the sentencing hearing, then-District Attorney Sandy Williams praised Lee for the many hours she spent poring through records to establish Pflughoeft’s theft and showing investigators how it was done. 

Lee soon helped stabilize the village’s financial records and helped oversee many changes.

For one thing, village residents can pay village bills online with a credit card. For another, water meters can be read remotely.

“The whole Village of Saukville can be read in a matter of two hours and the processing of the readings can be done in five minutes vs. other communities that take hours or days to get all their readings in,” Lee said in an email. 

“This was a huge technology saver and a big step for a community the size of Saukville.”

Lee also oversees village investments and savings accounts. During her tenure, the village’s credit rating with Moody’s has improved from A2 to Aa3.

Lee is a certified public finance administrator and has been an officer with the Wisconsin Municipal Treasurer’s Association, serving on several committees.

A Port Washington native who graduated from Port High School in 1979, Lee is also active in the community, helping with the annual Disabled Veterans’ Fish Outing, 4-H, Relay for Life, Ruby’s Pantry in Sheboygan and the Knights of Columbus and St. John XXIII Catholic Church.

In retirement, Lee said she plans to spend time at a vacation home in Door County and visit her daughter in Florida.

“I just want to enjoy life,” she said. “Right now I only get to see my daughter two weeks out of the year.”

“We are excited for Vicki in that she is able to retire,” Village President Barb Dickmann said.

“Vicki has been a real asset to Saukville, always providing excellent service and on-the-spot answers to questions or concerns. She has kept watchful care of our village budget, investments and spending and will be truly missed.”