February 18, 2000

Dear Board Members,

In Executive Director David Olsen's letter to me of January 31, enclosed, he claims that the Jefferson Development Corporation (JDC) was not a member of the Chamber of Commerce in 1999 and 2000. However, in the spring of 1999, Olsen gave me the Chamber of Commerce membership lists from 1998 and 1999. The JDC is listed as a member in both years. Can you ask to him clarify this detail?

Similarly, can you have Olsen determine if the JDC, Commerce and Industry Association (CIA), City of Jefferson, and the Jefferson Water and Electric Department were actually members of the Chamber in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 or 2000, and if so, how much they paid in dues? These groups are listed on the 1998 and 1999 Chamber membership lists.

In point 3 in his letter, Olsen attempts to justify the duplication cost for open records requests, but his explanation makes no sense given the facts. I would like the CIA Board to clarify how it can reasonably claim that its copying charges for open records requests reflect the "direct and actual cost" of duplication, as allowed by statute, given that at a recent CIA meeting it was decided that the CIA and JDC do not own any equipment (even though the records show they had purchased the equipment) and that instead the Chamber owns the equipment used for duplication.

If the CIA and JDC don't own the equipment, why do they receive the record-copying payments? Also, Olsen quotes me out of context. I only said the ten-cent copying charge was a reasonable price. Any remark I make has nothing to do with the CIA's justification of the cost as required by law. At the time of that letter, I'd been told the equipment was owned by the CIA. This is exactly the point I'm trying to clarify.

Regarding point 4 and 5, I find it hard to believe that the JDC does not have any record of the industrial park properties or tenants. There is nothing unreasonable about asking the JDC for these records. After all, the JDC is chartered to administer the industrial park properties for the City of Jefferson. I've been told it has been instrumental in acquiring the properties and coordinating new tenants.

How can it be that the JDC has no record of these events that it can give me? Without this information ready at hand, how can the JDC perform any adequate analysis of the industrial parks in order to show their cost and benefit to the City and the citizens of Jefferson? I would expect to go to City Hall to get tax information, for example, but not the history of industrial park transactions that are managed by the JDC.

As for Olsen's list of twenty-six past City employees and citizens, I doubt he can channel their spirits and thoughts to determine that they all disagree with me. I can channel the voice of Mayor Bill Brandel, though, by quoting the minutes of the Committee of the Whole, September 28, 1993, where the Council discussed the creation of the CIA's Executive Director position:

"Mayor Brandel questioned whether the Task Force saw any potential for conflict.
He stated that the position would be funded totally by the City, yet the Council would maintain only limited control over the position. He noted that no other employee of the City was monitored in this fashion."

Brandel continued with an example of where the Council and Chamber had conflicting views in the past. Kathleen Groskopf responded that the concern was valid. Mayor Brandel reiterated that the most difficult aspect of the proposal was City funding paired with a subsequent lack of control.

It is clear that I am not the first to ask these sorts of questions. The City's staff analysis of the creation of the CIA contains the same worries about potential conflicts of interest and the lack of direct accountability of the Executive Director position.

I certainly hope that Olsen, as employee of the City's Commerce and Industry Association, as the Executive Director of the City's Jefferson Development Corporation and the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, and as the appointed representative to the Jefferson County Economic Development Corporation and the STH 26 Study Committee, is not attempting to infringe or deny my right to freedom of expression by linking his opinion of my personal statements made in other forums to whether he intends to respond to my questions about these public affairs.

Claiming that he knows my "agenda", or questioning my intentions, or commenting on the opinions I've expressed in other forums is highly offensive and inappropriate in official communications.

Olsen said he believes "explaining, justifying and refuting" my questions may not be required under open records law, but certainly it is a part of Olsen's job to deal with the public that pays his salary. Most Americans regard an inquisitive, questioning citizenry as a time-honored and essential check on the power of government. I have a right to ask these questions. Can you remind Olsen of this aspect of his job? I certainly expect answers to my questions as well as rapid responses to my open records requests.

As for the incident on January 19 in my office, the Rotary Club aspect is irrelevant and only mattered to Olsen, not me. Olsen has yet to explain to me or anyone else why he provoked me by repeatedly insisting on disturbing my wife at home after I'd asked him not to call her there because she went home feeling ill, or why he told the police he "felt threatened" when I asked him to leave.

I fail to see how Olsen connects his "no response necessary" letters from months ago to this incident. Similarly, he began taping our conversations many months ago. Where's the logic in all this? It's critical to tape every word I say, but as soon as the JDC and CIA meetings were open to the public, it became unnecessary to tape-record JDC and CIA meetings?

Olsen's letter states I've wasted his time by asking for records more than once. Can you ask him to supply some evidence of this? Exactly how much time was "wasted"?

In a new open records request, I would like a copy of the "terms and conditions of employment" for the CIA Executive Director position. According to the definitions in the Wisconsin Administrative Code of the Department of Workforce Development (DWD), this would include the description of the position's hours, work schedule, terms for leave of absence or personal days, benefits, insurance, pension, vacation, holiday leave, sick leave, or general working conditions, etc.

According to section 272.11 of the DWD Administrative Code, every employer in Wisconsin must keep accurate records of a number of items for each employee, including time of beginning and ending of work for each day, and the total number of hours worked per day and per week.

As I see it, this means the CIA needs to accurately record the working hours of the Executive Director position. I confirmed this by phone with two separate DWD representatives. They assured me that this was required even for salaried employees. Violations of this requirement can result in fines of $10 to $100 per day that was not accurately recorded.

I would like to renew my previous request to view these time records of the CIA. In response to my previous requests, Olsen stated the CIA keeps no records of his working hours.
I am sure the CIA will now comply with the requirements of Wisconsin law and maintain three years of these records. I'm not sure why the CIA Board thinks it wise to avoid any sort of accounting of the Executive Director's time spent on tasks, but at least this common-sense requirement is part of Wisconsin law. Because this is a record that needs to be kept by the CIA, the records are subject to Wisconsin's open records law.

I am sure a reasonably accurate record can be assembled from Olsen's personal calendars from the past three years. It should be possible to document which days Olsen hadn't worked for whatever reason. For example, his vacations were sometimes recorded in Margaret Torgeson's column in the Daily Union.

Olsen or the local newspapers should be able to provide a record of the funerals at Olsen's other job, including the time of each wake or burial he may have supervised during the work day.
I posit that Olsen isn't working for the CIA when he steps away for a few hours to direct an event at Olsen Funeral Home, and that the time record should reflect that. Olsen served as Rotary Club president for a year. As I understand it, this volunteer task required other meetings during the day on a regular schedule apart from an entirely reasonable lunch-hour Club meeting. Olsen may be able to suggest other non-CIA-related activities that subtracted from normal work hours.

Ideally, an accurate time record would be split between the Executive Director's two very separate jobs at the JDC and Chamber. Arguably, each of them is an employer as well. I am sure a detailed split accounting would be useful to the City Council, Water and Electric, and Sewer Utility in order to better judge the use of funds requested by the CIA and Chamber. Without this split, there is no accurate record of the actual time required for the JDC versus the Chamber.

I ask the CIA or the City Council to address this issue as soon as possible. The next CIA Board meeting is scheduled for May 9. I thought it was helpful that for the last few months, the CIA Board was meeting monthly. Why did this change? Shouldn't there be more frequent oversight of this position than every three months?

I would like copies of this letter and enclosure to be given to the JDC, CIA and Chamber Boards.

Sincerely,

John J. Foust
235 South Main Street
Jefferson, WI 53549