(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
After a months-long investigation into personnel issues within the Salem Lakes Fire Department, Chief James Lejcar has resigned. About 30 minutes before tonight’s board meeting when the investigation was to be discussed, Lejcar tendered his resignation to Fire Commission Chairman Allen Thennes.
The resignation comes on the heels of an investigation that was completed by a law firm that the Village Board hired to investigate personnel issues within the fire department. Attorney Jake Curtis from Attolles Law was retained at significant cost to investigate village’s fire department – specifically the fire inspector, Steven Ptaszynski, who resigned last night, and the Fire Chief.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Thennes announced the resignation before the board meeting Monday evening. Thennes spoke briefly with KCE after the meeting. He wants residents to know that he’s taken action to make sure there is no disruption in services in the village. “I’ve spoken with the neighboring fire departments, Bristol and Randall – they are aware of the recent resignations. We have Lieutenants on the department that have command experience,” said Thennes. Village President Rita Bucur echoed Thennes’ statements Monday evening. “There will be no disruptions in fire department operations in the Village.”
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Reached by phone Monday evening, local Attorney Michael McTernan, who represents several of the businesses that say were attacked by Lejcar and Ptaszynski, had the following to say of this evening’s news:
“My clients remain committed to working with the Village to make the community that they live and work in better every day.”
Others in the audience this evening weren’t so diplomatic. There were audible cheers and excitement heard in the room immediately after the news of the Chief’s resignation was announced. “Now the Village can begin to heal,” said Steve Dunn, owner of two large businesses in the village.
Future of the Investigation’s Final Report
The village taxpayers had to pony up some money to pay for the expensive investigation and the business owners and residents demanded tonight that the Village Board release the report. KCE is aware of legal strategies that Village Attorney Remzy Bitar and Attolles Law could implement to bury this document. The village could tell Attolles Law not to author a final report. In Wisconsin, draft reports, work product and notes are not releasable under the Public Records Statute. Plainly put, if the lawyers at Attolles Law are told not to finalize a written summary of their findings, the costly investigation will be for naught. No one will know what, if anything was corrupt within the walls of the fire department administration. The proponents of having the report drafted and released gave many reasons why this would be done.
- The Village could learn from the findings of the investigation to craft new policies to prevent future bad behavior.
- The citizens deserve to know exactly how the fire department was ran before the Chief resigned.
- Transparency – Why bury a document that was so expensive to generate?
- Damage – Many people claim they were damaged by the fire department and might have legal claims. Burrying the document would eliminate evidence of any possible misconduct.
- Future employment of Lejcar. Lejcar could get a job running another local department if the truth about his leadership is hidden.
Fire Commission chairman Thennes told KCE that the commission is meeting on Wednesday to confer with their legal counsel to start the process of selecting an interim chief. After that the process to hire a new fire chief will begin.
Village President Rita Bucur’s full statement:
“Tonight, the Village Board was made aware of the resignation of both the Fire Chief and the Fire Marshall. We accept their resignations. The Fire Commission will immediately coordinate to make sure there is no break in fire and EMS services.
The Fire Commission will also meet on Wednesday to designate an Interim Fire Chief and discuss Fire Inspection services. They will also begin the discussion about the process for searching for a new Fire Chief.
The Village Board takes public safety seriously. I am confident the Village residents and those we serve will be in good hands.”
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
56 Responses
Great news 👏🏻 I wonder if he also wiped his village issues cell phone?
This board needs to clean house with the Fire and Police Commission. Crazy that there is an arsonist on it that has yet to be investigated for a major fire in Silver Lake.
We need to bring back Chief Slover to get this department that he made into one that people were proud to be apart of, back to that.
Keske has no business experience or people skills to run a department. Should look into how he got his degree…Wake up Salem. Your going in the same direction that you just got out of!!!
Stop the madness and start with a new Chief outside our Village. Anyone who doesn’t want real change is the problem. I can’t even imagine the cost to taxpayers with the past sleepy board and rogue employees. Some Clueless IMO named (Steph something) spoke tonight in public comments at the board meeting, a truly clueless person to what is going on at VOSL. She said Kevin wasn’t a Journalist, she obviously was trying to discredit Kevin, He had a good journalist story about her. However, then supported Kevin’s story about the casino. That supports a clueless comment, I think she is Part of the Salen Sentinal folks. If that’s the next future candidate of Salem Lakes she will most likely get even fewer votes than past trustees Culat and Kmiec which is hard to imagine.
What I find interesting is the group that is pushing change is very respectful to the opposition, that says all I need to know. Rock On Citizens, body count is growing, for the good!
Spare us all. This Stef is a clueless bimbo. Seems to think her buddies kmiec are wonder -people. And the commissioner team too. But all the while They were the ones that allowed this oath-breaking exerciseabd to let it conrinue even after it was all brought to their attention!. They should be so embarrassed that they’d want to melt away, not broadcast their ineptitude!
Slover is where ALL these FD problems started. He bullied and harassed people, he made it policy that FD me.bers were not allowed to communicate with Fire Commission or village board members under threat of dismissal, and he promoted Steve and Lecjar into those positions without Fire Commission involvement. Slover is also the one who illegally had the previous Fire Commission fired and replaced with a bunch of yes men who have no idea how do do their job. Slover is the last person on this earth that you want in this position!
I think you need to check your facts before you open your mouth. We (the fire department members) were never told we couldn’t talk to the Village Board or the Fire commission. Slover actually encouraged members to. I’m sure Chief Slover will get a kick out of the fact that you thought he had enough power to have an entire fire commission fired, and then had “his people”put in place! That’s hilarious!
Well said. Had the last village board done thier job and left the previous Commison in place you would have never seen this problem. Hopkins and Faber still need to be replaced. The new board is doing its job well.
The new board is working hours and hours beyond what’s expected of them. Cheers to them and a big pat on the back. Beware of the members who were voted off. There is a lot of darkness in the Village of Salem Lakes.
True story.
My man, get some new bar buddies cause they just telling you nothing but lies. And I know for damn sure you’ve never had to do anything with the department so dont come back acting like you know it all.. cause ya dont.
What do you mean “arsonist on it”?
Yes check court reports
If the investigation was to be released wouldn’t the report have been done? Did the Village enter into an agreement and pay a severance?
Not a chance, the report will be released soon. They knew the report was bad news, time to get in front of it. That’s all it is folks. The sad reality will soon follow with the release of the investigation and the torment the FD employees have had endured with these characters. We wish them well, hopefully they learned something through this, the victim’s sure have.
Hopefully, the New hires will have contracts with serious guard rails built-in. It shouldn’t take almost two years and 150-200k in legal fees paid by citizens and taxpayers to get rid of these bad employees. That is not right, the taxpayer deserves to have immediate options. Enough of this, never again!!!!! Ate and Stage Stop are the real heroes to somehow have found the wherewithal to survive this assault.
Who was that speaker who said the police investigation found no wrongdoing, obviously critical thinking wasn’t her forte. Plenty of wrongdoing, and the investigators wanted the Village to deal with it, and guess what, the board is. Add two more to the body count. What comes next will be interesting, it feels like the night before Christmas.
Is this going to be a case of resign, don’t let the door hit you in the butt and all is forgiven or will the report be released?
All of this was allowed to happen by each and every
single one of the inattentive fire commissioners, as well as
Diann Tesar,
Ted Kmiec
and
Mike Culat.
Please
do not go backwards.
Please
get a new full commission before they make more bad decisions on job specs and subsequent interviews.
Thankfully Rita is at the helm and has great support.
Very good but you left out two board members that also caused the problem Hopkins and Faber. They need to be replaced
File your papers, get a friend to run with you.
There is no doubt that both resigned in recognition that the report of their misconduct was going to be made public and it would show the entire community how they are a problem. The Fire Commission needs an overhaul as problems this big in the fire department went unchecked and fell on deaf ears. Let’s see if some of the commissioners will follow suit and resign as well.
Yep both Allen’s need to go
Best news of the evening. Now if only the sexual harasser Fire Chief at Twin Lakes would be investigated and resign.
Do resignations “have” to be accepted ??
Wouldn’t it be more punitive to “fire” a bad employee ??
They did cause harm. Shouldn’t they at least have it on their resumes that they were fired for cause ??
Too bad the new Village Admin will probably play a hand in the new hire- likely a worse hire too.
The new Administrator will be cleaning the house. Any employees who were involved in the fleecing of the Village will most likely be added to the past employee column very soon. The New Fire Chief will operate with integrity and honesty without the power trip or he will also be added to the past Fire Chiefs column. The New inspectors should be all the Fire department personnel. I think all business owners need to see and know the people who help protect our community. Putting this power in one or two people’s hands has been a disaster, and should not be repeated.
Taxpayers of Salem Lakes should be grateful for the resolve of this new board, especially Rita Bucur our new president. Many have sacrificed especially the Dunn’s for this movement to change bad government, change is happening. Next time you see Steve, Erin, or Chad thank them for their personal and major financial sacrifice. We owe gratitude to their perseverance. A few morons are barking about legal bills, yeah that’s what happens when the previous sleepy board allowed the patients to run the asylum. Hopefully, Mr. Mathewson will further his investigational skills to uncover all the fleecing of the Village of Salem Lakes, I’m sure the tip of the berg has only been uncovered. Notice to all current and future employees of Salem Lakes, we are watching. The same goes with the new board, we support but we are watching like all communities should do, when communities don’t this is the chaos that follows.
The proof will be “in the pudding”. I’ve seen not enough smart Board decisions yet to lead me to believe there will be a real change for the better (and not one further into the swamp).
Yep both Allen’s need to go
@Anonymous. They need to investigate employees who cheated on their hours, among other things.
Those people have been moved to positions of power which is very sad for the Village.
How can they be responsible for others when they are cheaters at the expense of their employer?
FYI the fire commission does the hiring not the administrator. What a factless, useless comment.
You clearly don’t know how Villages work.
KCE what is going on with the corruption in Pleasant Prairie? The Steinbrink Father and son the corruption team. The administration is part of it. The former administrator that is now a trustee. Wow you can’t write the book. I hope for the people’s sake that the Racine prosecutor does justice for the people of Pleasant Prairie. Why was this investigated and prosecuted by the attorney general’s office?
“Pleasant Prairie is the worst of the worst! Taxpayers are stuck with higher tax bills to cover bigger egos. Don”t worry daddy has been in contact with Racine DA remember they both belong to the same club that starts with d. Why is Pollocoff on the board other than to cover his tracks of when he was village chairman?
Add Carol Willkes name to that list as well. She is just as culpable in that mess.
The criminal case against Junior continues. There are no updates with the case other than time will decide if he takes a plea bargain or goes to Trail. The voters in Pleasant Prairie don’t seem to mind as the president just ran unopposed recently.
The easy part of Pleasant Prairie is to get rid of the disease. The tough part is not to damage the viable vital organs. For all the huffing and puffing about the Steinbrink family the fact is that Junior’s activities, while improper, does not speak of high level corruption. Some people will remember when the City of Kenosha’s clerk-treasurer was embezzling city funds. At the end of the day Junior’s conduct consisted of (1) alleged financial misappropriations for his own personal benefit and (2) being a jerk as a boss. The reference to the former HR honcho is that she was aware of these things but did nothing. The person who constantly pisses and moans about Pleasant Prairie keeps mentioning her name and is likely correct that she knew the Junior was a slob as a boss. But this, too, requires a deeper look.
Who did she work for? Pollocoff was the village administrator, her boss. Who was their boss? The village board, headed by Senior. Both are still there (although Pollocoff is no longer administrator and is now a board member). Willke may have run the HR department but she did not have the authority to hire or fire ANYONE except her own staff. The person who did have the authority was Pollocoff. Obviously Pollocoff didn’t intervene and we can draw our own conclusions about that. Willke could forward information to Pollocoff, of course, but it was his call whether to fire or discipline Junior.
Now let’s talk about Junior. The double edge sword there is that despite the obvious nepotism and even with the crap that he pulled for which he’s facing criminal charges, the streets were plowed and the work got done. Time will tell if his successor does as well without doing anything crooked. And, despite the cloudy history involving Senior and Pollocoff, the village has won several awards for how well the village is run.
It isn’t rocket science, friends. As Kevin said, nobody ran against Senior. Allow me to add that if someone does they need to do more than “run against Steinbrink” but also be competent enough to do the job. Pollocoff was a far more competent administrator than anyone downtown at city hall (and paid less, actually). But he’s not the only competent person around. Sometimes even good people have reached their plateau. What this tells us is that removing the diseased tissue here should be done with surgical precision so as not the impact the viable tissue.
That said, the fact remains, as Kevin noted, that the voters kept Senior in office which was stunning. To the frequent complainer, you have to be aware of the saying, “Didn’t vote, don’t bitch.” The allegations against Junior were in the public domain before the last election. Yet nobody else ran. And that means the men and women who work hard for the village and do good things have to put up with the status quo. Or maybe more accurately keep putting up with it.
“”Alleged financial misappropriations for his own personal benefit” is STEALING TAXPAYER DOLLARS if you are going to write a comment don” sugar coat it call it what it is!
I think financial misappropriation for his own benefit is actually more descriptive. One could steal taxpayer dollars for the benefit of others. Calling it fecal matter doesn’t change the fact that it’s still poop. And you can’t “sugar coat” poop.
Reality check: You’re either part of the solution or part of the problem. Steinbrink, sr. and Pollocoff are still in office because nobody ran against them and nobody initiated a recall. I always thought it felt a little weird that Pollocoff retired as village administrator and is now on the village board BUT that’s his right and it’s not illegal.
There’s some good news in this. It was village employees who blew the whistle and village police that did the initial workup before turning the investigation over to an outside agency. It was also the then village administrator who suspended Junior. They deserve some credit for doing the right thing.
If you want something to be worried about, maybe it should be whether there will be a plea bargain that depreciates the seriousness of the crimes. I hope Kevin (and others) watch that carefully. And we should sure as Hell hope that the taxpayers are made whole.
Alleged financial misappropriations are called FELONY theft moron. Please let’s talk more about your tissue and organ dissection.
Yes, and Junior is charged with felonies — for the time being. Wouldn’t surprise me if his lawyers are trying to cut a plea deal to avoid felony convictions.
At the end of the day, Junior is gone. Arrested, charged and gone. Wilke retired. But Senior and Pollocoff are still on the board, unopposed. It does zero good for people to keep griping here about Pleasant Prairie every time something comes up about Salem Lakes (which in itself is a little weird).
There’s a big difference between Pleasant Prairie and Salem Lakes. Junior is accused of misappropriation for his personal benefit. He has been charged and is awaiting trial. Village staff turned him in, the village police department correctly did a preliminary investigation and then turned it over to an outside agency and Junior was suspended by the then village administrator. Contrast that with the allegations that inspectors were picking on certain business persons, the fire department is in turmoil because firefighters quit because of the chief’s conduct, the former village administrator’s numerous issues and so on. This went beyond stealing from the taxpayers (as Steinbrink, jr.’s conduct was described) to actions that directly impacted the safety and welfare of the people in Salem Lakes. As wrong as both are, compared to Salem Lakes, Pleasant Prairie is a snowball in an avalanche. They’re building a new police station and another fire station and adding police officers and firefighters thanks to the voters. Neither the fire or police department is in turmoil. Even with Junior’s sticky fingers the garbage was collected and streets plowed (probably better than most places in the area). Village finances are regularly audited and in very good shape. The tax rate is less than in the city of Kenosha.
The bottom line is that there are people who don’t like Steinbrink, jr. or Pollocoff whom they regularly bash but when it comes time to put up or shut up they sat on their hineys and did nothing other than complain. And the reason I call b.s. on them is because it’s a lot easier to toss a snowball out of the way than it is to deal with an avalanche. And yet they’ve done squat.
Agreed. Steinbrink might be a POS but in the grand scheme of things….his wrongdoings are way more pedestrian than the government in Salem Lakes who were legit trying to shut down honest businesses….or the high amount of fire department turnover which could actually affect the residents.
Steinbrink’s country ass taking a village owned plow to his farmland doesn’t concern 99.9 percent of Pleasant Prairie residents enough to do anything about it. I think most who live here in Pleasant Prairie are middle to upper class and quite honestly don’t ever have to deal with the Village regarding anything. They are little people….most of us have bigger fish to fry in life.
And more significant is that they complain and yet gave Steinbrink sr. and Pollocoff a pass.
They last responded to a fire in 1979, but did get two cats out of a tree in 1983.
There were many good people on the fire departments and rescue squads that eventually became Salem Lakes FD. They worked very hard to serve their communities and deserve respect. Not their fault the leadership was bad.
yes the workers were not at fault on the Salem Lakes FD. Leadership was poor. Same thing for Silver Lake Rescue. Very poor leadership took them out.
thank you jim lacar for leaving.
The Salem Lakes Fire Commission has published the requirements for Interim Fire Chief. They are requiring a Bachelors degree in a Fire Service field but only requiring certification that prepares a firefighter to be a Lieutenant. There are Professional Qualification Standards that are being ignored. If this is allowed to go unchecked, the Village is going to once again end up with an unqualified Chief. That hasn’t worked out well up to this point. Why would you go down down the same path again?
There needs to be a full new fire commission before any chief search begins. They allowed this all to happen, at all levels and from the first.and some might say they tried to cover it up with delays, abstaining, etc.
Unqualified themselves they are.
It’s already been proven that two of the Fire Commissioners have done back room deals. That is why they had to recuse themselves from voting on some issues
First things, as a Fire Dept. supporter. The Village of Salem Lakes Board needs to change the fire commission makeup first. To do anything but this will lead to Groundhog Day all over. Let’s not just put the blame on the Chief and Inspector, we must also keep in mind who allowed this to come off the rails. The current fire commission minus the newest member Mr. Herreid are the ones that didn’t step in and tell the Chief and Inspector to knock it off. They let these rouge employees continue to attack members of our community. Despite what the old guard tells you this was IMO an illegal action. FSCI report is clear who is responsible for all this BS and it’s not the business owners. These business owners deserve this, they paid a heavy price for all their legal pushback. These fire commissioners, chief, and inspector brought a lot of pain to these business owners, Why? Did they dislike these business owners because they pushed back? Or were they just not competent enough to do the job? Either way, people need to be held responsible, hopefully, the New board will continue to push back against these crappy fire commissioners and employees. As a voter, I want retribution for those who have suffered so much!!! The citizens of Salem Lakes have pushed back against a tyrannical government, Finish The Job That Needs To Be Done!!!
Maybe, less fire dept. people on the fire commission make more sense.
Less fire department people on the Fire Commission? Seriously? How do you expect the commission to oversee the fire department with a group of commissioners that don’t know what they are overseeing? Or what it means to be a qualified applicant? Or what those qualifications are? The Commission should be made up of retired senior fire officers who know how the department should be run and are only interested in the best interest of the Village and its citizens.
That was the make up of the first Fire Commission that was getting the job done. The old board didn’t understand how a Commission work and thought they were trying to take over. They got rid of a Commission that was working well. Two of the board member are left. Vote them off.
No they may or may not have disliked these business owners, but someone higher up did. Was it someone(s) on the board or the administrator?
If you read the administrator’s emails, they are very telling. In addition, he was part of the fire/rescue department.
Yes, one would think that Fire Dept Personnel should guide the Fire Dept. Unfortunately, that didn’t work with the current relationship between the commission and the fire dept. Maybe a balanced approach is better. Maybe a blended group will help with brotherhood conflicts IMO exist on the current commission. This isn’t a commission that can’t be learned quickly, the right people would have no problem finding proper balance, so it doesn’t go off the rails again. Many walks of life can bring the balance to the community’s needs, and that should be afforded to businesses and citizens. Never Again!
Maybe it’s time for some of the Fire Commissioners to step down out of respect for those who have suffered??? Being new to Salem Lakes (5 years) and from Illinois, I’ve never seen this much negativity toward the Fire Dept, it’s like there is no brotherhood anymore. It will take new leadership, something the Firemen and Firewomen deserve. They have no blame for this, they can only do their job as well as the leadership allows. It will be interesting to see if they can keep staff once a New Chief is hired, I bet so.
If the board all ready had in it possession the work product argument is lost!
Sad to see this report was covered up so status quo remains behind the curtain.
This appeals court seems to suggest that investigation once closed is a public record eligible for release.
https://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&seqNo=602575
A work product never see the light of day. In this case board members ready to discuss it had it!