Paris town Clerk/Treasurer Beth Frederick submitted her resignation by letter today, but the Town Board tabled accepting it until they can discuss the matter further with her.
In fact, town Chairman Virgil Gentz said he didn’t even read the letter because he wants to find a way to keep Frederick in her current position.
“I think it’s really important that we try to keep Beth on,” Gentz said.
For her part, Frederick said after the meeting that she resigned in part because the scope of the position has been expanding since she was appointed to it after former Clerk/Treasurer Linda Terry resigned in February to take a job with another municipality.
“The additional duties have been adding up,” Frederick said.
However, Frederick said she was OK with the board tabling her resignation and meeting with the board on what could be done to keep her on board.
“I’m willing to listen to what they have to say,” Frederick said.
The board has been working on ways to give Frederick additional pay for what they say are duties above and beyond those performed by the clerk/treasurer. Board members were not specific, but said that they have run into statutory limits to how that can be done.
Frederick was also supported by four speakers during citizens comments. The most extensive comment was made by Pam Luebke, who cited numerous improvements that Frederick has instituted in town office operations and suggesting that the board has been taking advantage of Frederick by having her work extensive hours.
“She keeps this place running like a well-oiled machine,” Luebke said.”I ask the board to really think twice about accepting her resignation.”
For her part, Frederick thanked residents Marilyn Zirbel and Kathy Frederick for volunteering to help her reorganize the town office.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your assistance,” Frederick said.
Former Clerk Terry told westofthei.com that some of the files etc, that needed to be organized was due to the move into the newly remodeled town hall that took place in 2007.
“Just prior to tax time in 2007, the new portion of the Town Hall was able to be moved in to,” Terry wrote in an email. “File cabinets and boxes were moved into the back room and left for Lori and I to deal with when we had time. Tax time came and went with no time for filing. After that, my deputy clerk helped out with the building permits that had been boxed up – they were filed by parcel number – some of those permits dated back to the early 1990’s. For the next two years, Lori and I attempted to get things straightened up in that back room. I had a deputy clerk that worked 4 – 6 hours a week, except during tax time, wherein she worked when I did – Monday, Wednesday and Friday; we also were open two Saturdays in December and January.
“I would have to agree – the new clerk/treasurer DOES need help with the work; I would have to wonder though, why did the Board choose to ‘let go’ the deputy clerk/treasurer that the Town already had? The present clerk/treasurer is fortunate in the fact that she was able to bring in, not one, but two people to help her – I was never given that opportunity by the Board.”
The deputy was not let go of her position, she knew Linda was leaving and left first. I guess she didn’t want to work with someone she didn’t know. I think she made a big , big mistake.
NOW the big question is WHEN IS THE SPECIAL MEETING? it cant’ always be “talk” actions speak louder than words. If it means posting a meeting for the public then lets do it. Who shows up, shows up. I just don’t understand why they make mountains out of mole hills. Other townships have grown. Call Somers, Randall, or any other small town. At some point in their growth, they went through this process that we have to go through. I am sure they would be more than happy to help us make the transition and walk us through the procedure.
Just for clarification purposes – the deputy clerk left about three weeks before the clerk/treasurer left. There was another deputy clerk/treasurer hired and she was working for the Town until the current clerk/treasurer was appointed. It was that, second deputy clerk/treasurer, that was let go.
The second one was never considered an appointment. She was filling in UNTIL they interviewed for the position and qualifications won out. So the second one was just a temporary worker” fill -in” so to speak. I would rather have seen Linda stay and train Beth then have a secondary clerk who was on the job for about a month maybe a little bit more attempt to train when she certainly didn’t have all the answers herself. Linda was there for 4 years and knew the job inside and out. that would have been teh best way to prepare Beth instead of throwing her to the wolves (election)
Here’s the kicker “Just Me”, I OFFERED to help out wherever needed, at no cost to the town, but have never been called. And, thank you for the compliment – they seem to be few and far between.
You are quite welcome and you were just not appreciated. Unfortunately for ANY clerk/treasurer, some people think it is a piece of a cake job and it only requires typing skills and no brains. I wish those pople would try what you and Beth do for one week and lets see how they do. You wouldn’t have had the time anyway with the job that you have plus at home. They did you a favor not calling you. why would you want to get involved with that AGAIN?
Why would I want to get involved? Well, because I’ve live in Paris all of my life and really DO like the Town, and more importantly, the Town’s people. Being clerk/treasurer in Paris was really great – let’s just say that I didn’t leave because of $$$. According to the Kenosha News, they wrote that the Town’s Association and the State Statutes say that no additional money can be given mid-term. Now, considering that the dump is giving less and less money to the Town, why is the Town spending money for the attorney to (as the attorney said) try to find a “loophole” in the law?
its honorable for you to stand behind your community, but where was the board when you asked for something of a retirement benefit? Unfortunately you are just a number. My big question is, WHY do we have a lawyer sitting at every meeting? The only answers you get from him at ANY meeting is “I’ll have to check into that” or “I’ll research that” He sits there for 2 hours at a minimum and really doen’st do much but we pay him somewhre between 3500-4000 PER MONTH. Now that is a waste of money. He is not a “town Lawyer savvy” at all. We know how to research the internet for state statutes why cant’ we give it a shot without a lawyer? We did for a while then all of a sudden he shows up. Did we gain anythig at all having him there? I don’t think so. Nothing has been done concerning the racetrack, nothing has been done concerning the clerk/treasurer. what purpose does he serve?
I have tired on a number of occasions to answer Mike back but for some reason I can’t get my inforamtion to go in. it keeps just turnign to white and just sit there. This is what I wrote to Mike so hopefully you read this too.
I was not ignoring your comments. I was unable to get in and I am hoping that this goes through. I didn’t mean to offend you and if you took it that way then I apologize, but you treat Paris Clerk/Treasurer like this is still Mayberry and it isn’t. You should actually go into the office and see and talk to Beth if she has teh time. we need the hours to achieve the continuity of this job along with making sure that the job is done correctly and LEGALLY. Who is the supervisor for this position? does anyone know this answer? Why does it have to be an elected position? Like Linda said anyone who gets the votes can qualify for the job, but that doesn’t mean they know where the bathroom is nevermind what the state statutes are or even if they can type. Linda has been a lifelong resident here and she was voted in and well deserved, but when she left and her shoes were filled with Beth’s shoes, Beth being (like you said) overqualified for the position but just wanted a part-time position that was posted as a 20 hour a week job doing what she knows but a whole lot closer to home and she took a cut in pay. Sometimes family sacrifices are just worth the cuts, but when the job posting isn’t posted correctly then there are issues that need to be addressed and they can’t address them because of the restraints that Govern the town. Here is my proposal. Instead of having it a voted position why not make it based on (something new) QUALIFICATIONS where they would actually have a supervisor to answer to, and wouldn’t have to go through the board for every little thing. this way the job would be per hour or still salary but the hours wouldn’t be an issue anymore and neither would the benefits. the big issue I have with the town board is WHY on this God’s green earth do we need a lawyer at each one of our meetings??? he is paid somewhere around 3500-4000.00 PER MONTH is the information I received if correct then this is the issue that we should be addressing. When you go to the town meetings he never has answers. He generally says ” I’ll have to check into that” then he never does or ” We have to research that” and he never does. That money would be better spent on the deputy clerk and on the clerk/treasurers hours. We have FREE attorney services with the town association that is fantastic. Why are we paying for something that we can get free? who ever approved that move? yet we need approval for what is definately an issue? We don’t pay for maintenance of our town hall. the daystaffers EMT’s clean the town hall. You talk about the county taxes being paid by paris for all Paris residences. We also pay for big businesses like Birchwwod meats, Pheasant Run, the Dragestrip, and all the bars. Why? The money would last longer for us true residents that actually park their cars in their garage or driveway, go into the house and eat dinner and then sleep in the bed that RESIDES in Paris.
My proposal for the town clerk/treasurer is to take it away from the voters and turn it into a qualifications position instead of who likes who better and how many people do you know in this town. This job needs to be filled by someone who knows the town as well as how to run an efficient office. I am sure nothing has been done to keep Beth in her position because they just cant’ get out of each others way so I bid Beth good-bye and once again the revolving door revolves again. paris may as well just hire a school kid. this way they don’t care about the town of Paris, they just want a paycheck and they are blind to whatever goes on. They will do their 20 hours and no more. the towns people who know NOTHING about what the real job is and have been saying nothing but negative things will be satisfied that they didn’t have to address the real issue at hand which is more hours until they go to the office and want something or go to the town meeting and everything that they asked the town clerk/treasurer to help them with wasn’t done therefore nothing can be done at that meeting concerning their issue. One step further when the town board asks for the minutes to the previous meeting and some things weren’t addressed or omitted because the 20 hours left them short on time to finish their job. Here is a scary thought. I could run for this position and maybe I would stand a chance of being voted in, but guess what I know diddly squat about what the town by-laws, state statutes or even much abut the politics. Now that I know this fact, that scares me about the treasurer aspect of the job.
I agree that Beth is probably well qualified for the job. The pay is fair, just increase the hours if legally possible or give her help.
Why on earth wouldn’t chairman Gentz even read the letter before the meeting???? That is his job. Maybe he would have had some better insight into the problem had he done that instead of another agenda item being tabled. If she does in fact resign then the board has no one to blame but themselves. They can blame the lawyer(whom I believe is at the root of a lot of the towns problems) but they can get rid of him. Why wait. Do we need a special meeting of the community to decide this guy is NOT qualified (or just doesn’t care)? Chairman Gentz: I know you are reading this. You say you listen, you listen alot. It’s loud and clear. Now take action on these lingering items. The world doesn’t move at a snails pace…so why sould Paris??????