BOTH VIEWPOINTS: TOWN OF WORCESTER AND SLECK RESPOND TO HARASSMENT ALLEGATIONS

[My Northern Wisconsin]

   

Five people have served as the clerk/treasurer for the Town of Worcester since 2020.  In five years' time, all five have resigned.  In their resignation letters, four of them, Scott Revak, Roberta Reese, Marcie Bogdanovic, and Alli Mathys, mentioned "harassment" or "stress," from an individual and his group, as one of their reasons for resignation.

The letters of resignation can be viewed on the Town of Worcester website at this link and this link.

In her resignation letter, Alli, the most recent clerk/treasurer, alleged she was subjected to threatening behavior from a few individuals and felt the behavior was driven by Facebook posts made by one individual.

There is a private Facebook group that was recently created that focuses on government in the Town of Worcester.  A post in that group states that a new public Facebook group has now been created.  One of the groups' administrators is Anthony Sleck, who was involved in a lawsuit with the Town of Worcester in years past, alleging that some of his open records requests were not being fulfilled.  According to Anthony, there were originally eleven charges filed against the Town of Worcester.  One charge was dropped after agreement by Anthony and the attorneys.  Seven other charges were dropped by Anthony and his attorney before the judge could rule on them, because the Town of Worcester fulfilled the open records requests that pertained to those charges.  Anthony won his lawsuit on the other three charges as The Town of Worcester was found guilty.  (See related story at this link.)  In regard to that lawsuit, Anthony asked and explained, "Why did the Town of Worcester get sued?  Because they were denying Open Public Records, delaying the fulfillment of the requests, and charging ridiculous fees to deter citizens from getting information that is supposed to be given to anyone upon request.  All this was proven in court, and after this was over, the town board members still are doing the same things they were taken to court for the first time.  It's obvious that they didn't learn from their past mistakes....I am well within my rights as a concerned citizen to ask for this information."

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Regarding the Facebook group, Anthony told My Price County, "We do not make any accusations about anyone that can't be substantiated with documents received from the Worcester town clerks or from video recordings of the town meetings."

Chairman Jim Michler, however, feels the Facebook group, which he admits he has not seen because he is not on Facebook, has "negative allegations about the Town of Worcester."  He continued, "Two people told me that they posted rebuttals to negative posts, that those rebuttals were immediately removed, and they were blocked."  The Town of Worcester then started a blog on their website to "attempt to counteract the negativity of that Facebook page," according to Jim.

In regard to the resignation letters of the clerks, Anthony shared, "They all claim harassment.  Doing your job or having to be reminded of what your job responsibilities are, isn't harassment.  The town board members spent thousands of dollars on security cameras inside and outside the town hall and recycling center.  Ask to view the recordings of the incidents they claim have happened to make the town clerks fear for their lives.  I have video recordings of the town meetings to back up my side of the story.  All they have is hearsay.  If they feel threatened or harassed, why haven't there been any charges brought to anyone?  The answer is simple.  I'm well within my rights as a citizen to make these requests with expectations of them being fulfilled in a timely manner."

My Price County asked the town chairman, "Besides receiving a large number of open records requests, what 'harassment' have the town clerks experienced?"  He said, "The volume of open records requests is not, and has not been, the primary problem.  The primary problem is the verbal abuse and threats of lawsuits.  Any one incident by itself is not a huge problem, but he never lets up.  The continuous pressure is more than the last five town clerk/treasurers have been able to tolerate.  His legal actions will be the subject of future blog posts."

My Price County mentioned to Anthony that some residents have expressed that they do not know why he needs all these records and wonder if he has found anything materially significant that the Town of Worcester is doing wrong.  Anthony asserts, "Some things that I have found while searching through the documents that I have been allowed to receive range from time card fraud, lack of leadership by the town chairman, lack of knowledge by the town board members, and lack of work experience by the employees of the township (not being capable of performing the job duties correctly the first time).  We can blame that on poor training, but what has the town board done to resolve that issue, besides constantly increasing their pay?"

The Town of Worcester provided a list of requests they have received from April 5, 2022 (when they started keeping a record of the requests) and January 27, 2025.  This record includes all the requests they have received and not just Anthony's requests, as noted on the document.  Click here to view the list.

As for his reasoning for requesting records, Anthony stated, "According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), every citizen has the right to make an Open Public Records (OPR) Request.  They should be allowed to do so without interference from the town board members.  It is the records' custodian's (town clerk's) job duty and responsibility to fulfill these requests as soon as practicable without delay.  The DOJ also puts OPR's as a priority.  These requests are supposed to be fulfilled without question."

The Town of Worcester agrees that any person can view or get a copy of a public record in the township.  According to Chairman Jim Michler, "The requester does not need to provide a reason for requesting the record.  The power to get records is not unlimited.  The regular business of the town must continue."  He added that some requests are quick and easy to fulfill, such as a current list of registered voters, but some requests take more time, such as road crew workers' time cards for a six-year period of time as the time cards are only on paper and not easily accessible on a computer.

Jim stated, "The situation is more difficult when a particular requester has a history of abusing and threatening the town clerk.  Because of that abuse, the town worked with the town attorney to protect the town clerk.  The town clerk now has the option of requiring that two town board members be present during requests to view or deliver records in person.  Since the Town of Worcester has a three-member board, two members is a quorum.  A board quorum requires a public meeting with at least 24 hours' advance public notice."

However, Anthony feels the town board members have "created obstacles and barriers to deter anyone from making such requests.  They have created policies trying to limit when and how a citizen can have their requests fulfilled."  He believes that all or most of the documents reside on computers given he says a former town chairman had the town's documents scanned into the computer system.

Chairman Michler said, "Before early 2022, he [Anthony] regularly disrupted town meetings.  After a talk with Sheriff Schmidt, and actions from the meeting chair, those disruptions decreased."  He added, "He is very good at verbally backing people into a corner, misquoting laws, quoting people out of context, then verbally hammering them.  This is the root of the harassment mentioned in the letters of resignation.  Because of that behavior, the Town worked with Attorney Bryce Schoenborn to develop a procedure for filling his Open Records requests.  We require that two town board members be present whenever he is meeting with the town clerk.  He has strongly objected to that requirement and has repeatedly stated that he should be allowed to talk to the town clerk one-on-one."

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The Town of Worcester mentioned a thread of e-mails between Anthony and Alli to determine a date they could meet to fulfill some of Anthony's requests.  In the e-mails, Alli asked Anthony if he could meet on September 12, 2024.  Anthony had a medical appointment that day and could not meet.  Alli then suggested September 17, 2024.  Jim stated that day would work for him unless a loan signing was going to get scheduled as that would take precedence.  Anthony stated he could not meet on that day.  Alli suggested October 2, 2024.  Anthony replied that he did not like her suggesting a day for "all" to meet.  He expressed that he and the clerk/treasurer should work out a day and time and the new procedure was a deterrent.  If they could not work out a time, then Anthony requested that all his requests be fulfilled and he could stop by to pick up the information.  Alli then asked if he could meet on October 14, 2024.  Anthony replied that date did not work for him.  Alli suggested November 19, 2024.  Anthony replied that date and time did not work with his schedule.  He stated the new policy was created on misinformation about him, and he would like the former policy to be used where he could schedule a date and time with the clerk and then if the board members wanted to come at that time, they could.  He stated that the documents he wanted were sitting on the counter at the October monthly board meeting.  Alli then asked if December 9, 2024 would work for Anthony or if he could suggest a date that would work for him.  He replied that date did not work for him, and he wanted the original process to be in place.  Alli asked him if December 17, 2024 would work.  Anthony stated that date did not work for him, again expressing that he wanted the original policy to be used, because he stated the town clerk is the records' custodian, not the board members.  Alli asked if January 6, 2025 would work for them to meet or if Anthony could suggest a date.  Anthony stated that date and time would not work for him.  He wanted to use the procedure where the clerk sends him three dates and times, and if one worked for him, he would select it, but if none worked for him, then he would send her back three dates and times until they found a meeting time that worked for both of them.  He said the board could then be notified.  Alli replied, asking if January 14, 2025 would work for Anthony.  Anthony asked what records he would receive at that time if he rearranged his schedule, and Alli replied they would work on the 1-22 open records requests and get through as many as possible in the allotted hour.  Anthony confirmed he could meet at 1 p.m. on January 14, 2025 and stated he appreciated the opportunity to address the matter and looked forward to a productive discussion on ensuring compliance and transparency fulfilling the town's obligations.  However, Alli told the chairman that she was concerned about the meeting, not wanting her name drug through the mud on social media or having videos of herself at the meeting on Anthony's group page.  She felt that, in the past, Anthony posted videos after the meeting was adjourned where she was talking to others about her personal life and engagement.  Alli stated to Jim that she would have all the documents ready, but she did not want to be part of the meeting so she could avoid having her name and a video of herself on the Internet.  Almost twenty-four hours before the meeting, Alli sent Anthony an e-mail stating that since she was resigning and felt there was ongoing harassment, she did not want to meet with Anthony.  She stated the town board felt it was best to wait for a meeting until there was a new town clerk.  She stated the town would reach out to Anthony once the clerk/treasurer position was filled to set up a new meeting date and time.

Anthony said the town board calls this situation "chaos," but he feels the chaos began after May of 2020.  "It is true that I have made a number of requests over the past years.  The Town of Worcester Board appointed a new member to the town board in May of 2020.  This individual has done nothing but waste everyone's time and money by creating obstacles (policies) to slow down an already outlined procedure by the DOJ.  This same individual is responsible for the spread of misinformation about my requests to try and destroy my reputation."

Anthony states he has video from a town meeting from the Summer of 2023.  He said that two board members alleged "someone came into the Worcester Town Hall and started throwing things around the office, yelling at the town clerk, and plain harassing the town clerk.  The town board members were discussing building a new office for the town clerk.  This office would be made from bulletproof glass.  I made a records request to view that video from all the town hall security cameras.  Also, if something like this ever happened to anyone, don't you think there would have been a report filed with the sheriff's department and the district attorney?  It's amazing how no such reports exist or were even reported to any authorities.  Why do you think something like this was brought up in a town meeting?  To try and damage my reputation even more with misinformation," Anthony said.

"Having individuals on the board who have no experience with road maintenance or operating this type of work, period, shouldn't be permitted.  They are only legal liabilities to the township with inexperience and no people skills.  They will say or do something that could be very costly to the residents and taxpayers of Worcester.  Friends or not, they don't need to be running this township.  It will only end up in bankruptcy with their frivolous spending habits and poor decision making."

He continued, "I can put all of this into perspective pretty easily.  I am a concerned resident in Worcester.  As a concerned resident, I attend as many town meetings as possible.  I've asked the town chairman questions about accountability and how our tax money was being used.  I video and audio record every meeting that I attend.  This is my proof of what transpires at these town meetings.  After that, I wasn't allowed to speak anymore.  The only other avenue for getting this information is to submit Open Public Records Requests.  The records' custodian (town clerk) is the only person accountable for fulfilling these requests.  This is outlined by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, under job duties and responsibilities of the town clerk."

Anthony summarized what he expects from the town board.  "I expect truth and transparency from the town board members, 100%, always."  He added, "My reputation has been destroyed by the town board members of Worcester all because I'm a concerned resident and ask questions.  Aren't they being paid to represent every person in the township equally?  Ask yourself why Worcester Town Board is going out of their way by wasting time, money, and energy to prevent me from getting Open Public Records?  What is the town board trying to hide from the public?"

Some residents have asked why Anthony has not applied for the town clerk/treasurer position.  However, he has applied.  According to the Town of Worcester, he has submitted various applications for different jobs from 2021 through 2023.  He submitted an application for the town clerk/treasurer job in April of 2023, but he was not hired, and Alli Mathys started in the position in December of 2023.  Chairman Michler stated that Anthony "contested the town's decision to not interview him" at one time.  Anthony was interviewed for a recycling center position.

Jim added that Anthony's threats of lawsuits are not empty.  The last time he sued the Town of Worcester, the chairman said it "cost the insurance company almost $100,000 in attorney fees."

As of our interview with Anthony, he is still waiting for his open records requests to be fulfilled.

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