Accusations of ethical misconduct continue to fly through the corridors of the Shawano County Courthouse.
The Nov. 4 hearing of the ethics committee involved former administrative coordinator Jim Davel accusing Supervisor Lowel Hammett of a trio of violations.
While most meetings of the committee occur behind closed doors, Hammett made no such request, and the meeting was held in open session.
Two hours of testimony later, committee members — Supervisor Kimberly Leffel and citizens Chris Holewinski, Mike Stupecky and Jim O’Neill — delayed a decision until a Nov. 11 meeting. (See "Ethics Committee silent on Hammett decision.")
Hammett, who also serves on the ethics committee, did not cast a vote.
Davel filed his complaint against Hammett on June 2, when Davel was still employed with the county. He resigned in October to take a position in the village of Kronenwetter in Marathon County.
In Davel’s complaint, Hammett is accused of three ethics code violations — an accusation related to a closed session request, allegedly profiting from using the words “Shawano County Supervisor” on his business cards and dispersing confidential personnel files to unauthorized people without the consent of the employee.
Hammett’s attorney, John Healy, refuted all of the chargers, noting the first accusation didn’t even cite a provision of the ethics code it allegedly violated.
As for the second claim, the attorney said Davel presented no proof of Hammett profiting from the business card wording. He said the appearance of the words does not constitute a profit.
Finally, as relating to the third accusation, Healy said the files were not confidential just because they involved employees, and they were released with the consent of the person in the files.
It was also noted Davel’s claims were filed after Hammett, as committee chairman, investigated Davel due to employee complaints against him.
According to the Shawano County website, the ethics committee has now met 12 times since Aug. 20, 2024. There are no records of the committee meeting in the previous six years, with 2018 being the earliest the agendas and minutes of county meetings appear on the website.
Due to the vagueness of the minutes, it’s unclear how many accusations were discussed in those meetings, how many people were accused of misconduct or who was accused.
