By Emily Winter
The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
Copyright 2006 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
The Village Board voted Monday to accept the resignation of fire Capt. Tom Eithun from the Village Board after the state attorney general’s office said it is a conflict of interest for him to serve in both jobs.
Eithun resigned even though he said several lawyers advised him that taking his seat on the board would not be illegal. Because the village contracts out to Oregon Fire/EMS, Eithun said he would not be involved in setting his own salary — the main factor in making the two seats incompatible.
“I feel it’s better to just resign now and still work on it, and if I can get it worked out by the next election, which is April, I can run again,” Eithun said.
Eithun said he has already spent more than $2,000 in legal fees to determine if the opinion, written by Assistant Attorney General Tom Balistreri, is consistent with state and village laws.
“There’s still something in the back of my mind saying Mr. Balistreri didn’t have all the information,” Eithun said.
Eithun contends Balistreri is under an incorrect impression that the Oregon Fire Department operates as a public service rather than a private company. When he brought his complaint to Balistreri, Eithun said, he was told the opinion is final.
Balistreri could not be reached for comment.
However, Alan Lee from the attorney general’s office told The Capital Times that because the village provides most of the Fire Department’s funding, it would not matter whether the department was a private company.
“The seats are incompatible no matter what way you look at it,” Lee said.
After Balistreri released the opinion May 11, Eithun had the chance to take the matter up with the League of Wisconsin Municipalities if the Village Board approved.
But in a meeting June 6, the board deadlocked in a 3-3 vote on the matter, and board President Jerry Luebke decided not to allow the case to go any further.
Eric Poole, a board member who also voted against referring Eithun’s matter to the league, said the board needs another member and can’t wait for others to review the case.
“Personally, I thought that all this should have been cleared up before he even ran for election,” Poole said. “I would take anything the attorney general has to say as the way it should be.”
At Monday night’s meeting, members clashed over how to fill the board’s seventh seat, and ultimately voted to put out a public notice and take applications until July 10. At the July 17 meeting, the board plans to select a new member from the pool of applicants. The new member will serve until April 2007.
Two board members advocated offering the position to one of the April 2006 candidates who were not elected, a move Eithun thinks is a deliberate attempt to fill the seat with an incumbent. Two of the three candidates who lost the April election, Darrell Klimke and Mark Mortensen, previously served on the board.