Mount Pleasant Village Board Votes to Deny Open Records Request

The Mount Pleasant Village Board voted Monday night not to release a letter that may have contributed to the board's decision May 9 to fire Village Administrator Mike Andreasen. 

Mount Pleasant-Sturtevant Patch filed an open records request for a letter former village clerk/treasurer Juliet Edmands wrote to the village after she was removed from her position. 

The Village Board met in closed session Monday night to discuss Patch's request. The Journal Times also filed an open records request for the letter. Board members returned to open session and voted unanimously to deny the requests. 

Village officials did not, as required by the state open records law, offer a reason for the denial.  

Patch initially filed an open records request for the letter with Village Clerk/Treasurer. That request was denied because Salas said she was not the custodian of the record. Patch then filed a request with individual members of the Village Board and Village President Carolyn Milkie.

After meeting in closed session for nearly two hours to discuss what was listed on the agenda as "compensation/Juliet Edmands and Fire Department Staffing Levels," the board returned to open session to make three motions:

• Approval with a 6-1 vote (Garski the only dissention) to allow Fire Chief William Bouma to fill the vacancy left by retiring Battalion Chief Garrett Kaminskis and another firefighter position as they become available
• Approval with a unanimous vote to extend former Clerk/Treasurer Juliet Edmands' insurance benefits under the COBRA plan; and 
• Unanimous vote to deny both Patch's  and The Racine Journal Times' open records request for the "Juliet Edmands Correspondence" listed on the May 9 agenda that may have led to the board firing former Village Administrator Mike Andreasen.

When asked after the meeting if there would be a reason issued for the denial, Village President Carolyn Milkie at first said there would not, but then said she would issue a response tomorrow, May 24.