SALEM LAKES, Wis. — Salem Lakes Trustee Amanda Procknow has resigned just months after voters elected her to the Village Board, and some residents and Village insiders are sounding alarms over who may replace her. Sources tell Kenosha County Eye that former Salem Lakes Fire Commission Chairman Tom Strachan is poised to receive the appointment, with critics warning that putting Strachan back into a powerful Village position could represent a return to what they describe as some of Salem Lakes’ darkest and most dysfunctional days. Strachan was also seen at Tuesday night’s Village Board meeting, appearing to rub elbows with sitting trustees as the vacancy process gets underway.

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The Village is publicly seeking applicants for the vacant trustee seat through 4 p.m. on September 30. Applicants must live within Salem Lakes, be at least 18 years old and be eligible electors. But multiple insiders told KCE they believe the application process may be little more than a formality because Strachan is already the board’s preferred choice.

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His appearance at Tuesday night’s meeting is adding to those concerns. Strachan was seen mingling with and speaking to trustees, appearing comfortable among the very officials who could soon vote on Procknow’s replacement. Coupled with what multiple sources are telling KCE, his presence is fueling suspicion among some residents that the appointment may already be largely settled before the public application deadline even arrives.

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One Village insider described the prospect of Strachan’s appointment as a “dark return to the past.” Others said they fear “the vote is already in” before residents have even had an opportunity to submit applications.

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Strachan is hardly a newcomer to Salem Lakes government. He previously served as chairman of the Salem Lakes Fire Commission during one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the Village Fire Department.

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As Fire Commission chairman, Strachan was charged with helping oversee a department led by then-Fire Chief James Lejcar. During that era, complaints and allegations of serious dysfunction inside the department mounted. KCE reported in April 2023 that Strachan wanted to keep the embattled Lejcar in the chief’s position even as criticism of the department intensified.

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Strachan seemingly allowed serious problems inside the department to fester under his watch, problems that would later be detailed extensively in an outside personnel investigation.

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That investigation, released later in 2023 after Lejcar and Fire Inspector Steve Ptaszynski resigned, found significant deficiencies in the performances of both men after investigators interviewed nearly two dozen people and reviewed hundreds of pages of communications and records. KCE previously reported that investigators documented accusations that Lejcar and Ptaszynski intimidated employees and discouraged subordinates from cooperating with the investigation.

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Ptaszynski resigned in November 2023 on the eve of a Village Board discussion concerning the personnel investigation. In correspondence surrounding his resignation, Ptaszynski disclosed that he had wiped information from his department-issued cellular phone, according to records previously obtained by KCE. Lejcar also resigned.

The Fire Commission itself became a source of repeated controversy.

One of the commission’s members was serial arsonist Allen Dunski Jr., who eventually became vice president of the Salem Lakes Fire Commission. Dunski was convicted of three felony arsons committed when he was 22 years old and working as a firefighter. Court and investigative records previously obtained by KCE showed that Dunski admitted setting three separate fires and then returning to the fire station, where he was dispatched to help extinguish fires he had started himself.

Dunski was appointed to the Fire Commission in 2019 following a motion by then-Trustee Bill Hopkins and a second by Trustee Ron Gandt. The appointment was unanimously approved. The serial arsonist later became a vocal supporter of Lejcar while serving on the commission.

Strachan’s own continued leadership of the Fire Commission became controversial in early 2023.

Shortly before a newly elected Village Board was scheduled to take office, the outgoing administration considered reappointing Strachan. KCE reported at the time that Strachan was among a series of appointments being advanced by outgoing Village President Diann Tesar following an election in which several incumbents had been overwhelmingly defeated.

KCE reported then that Strachan vowed to keep the embattled Lejcar on the job. Around the same time, the outgoing Village Board changed Village rules so the Fire Commission itself could select its chairman instead of having the Village President select the chairman with board approval. Critics at the time believed the change was designed to keep Strachan in control of the commission.

The broader Village administration was also embroiled in public-records battles during that period.

In March 2023, KCE prevailed in a public-records lawsuit against Salem Lakes after the Village refused to provide requested records. Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder ordered the Village to turn over the records and pay fees. Lejcar and then-Village President Tesar appeared in court in support of the Village’s refusal to release the documents.

The following months brought increasing scrutiny of the Fire Department and those responsible for overseeing it, culminating in the outside investigation and the departures of Lejcar and Ptaszynski.

The Fire Commission itself continued to implode into 2024. After KCE exposed vice president and serial arsonist Allen Dunski Jr.’s three felony arson convictions, Dunski resigned from the commission. Less than three weeks later, Fire Commission President Allen Thennes also resigned, leaving yet another vacancy on a commission already battered by controversy over its oversight of the fire department.

For residents who lived through those controversies, the possibility that Strachan could now return to Village government as an actual voting trustee is reopening old concerns about leadership, oversight and accountability.

The Village has not publicly announced that Strachan will receive the appointment, and the vacancy remains publicly advertised through September 30. Strachan, like any other eligible resident, would have to apply before he could be considered.

But insiders who spoke with KCE say they believe the outcome may already be decided.

“They’re taking applications, but people already believe the vote is in,” one source told KCE.

If Strachan ultimately receives the appointment, he would move from his former role overseeing the Fire Department as Fire Commission chairman into one of the seats directly governing Salem Lakes, a prospect that some residents say could signal a troubling return to an era they hoped the Village had left behind.