HORTONVILLE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The people of Hortonville are still asking why their police-chief was put on leave.
Chief Michael Sullivan was put on paid leave about two weeks ago, but village leaders refuse to say why. Sullivan has been the village’s police chief for 14 years.
Dozens of people filled the Hortonville Village Board room Thursday, They were there to show solidarity with Sullivan.
He spoke to WLUK.
“I appreciate everybody coming out and supporting me. I mean, the way I’ve been treated is just completely unfair”
The issue was not on the regular agenda, and the village administrator and board members did not discuss the issue in public. They did discuss it in a closed session, private meeting earlier in the evening.
In public the board would only say the matter is up to the police and fire commission, whose members were not present Thursday.
During the meeting, however, several Hortonville firefighters were among those who showed their support for Sullivan. Nick Knuth spoke for the firefighters.
“Getting the community behind him, in support of him, because we know he’s a good, stand up guy”
But the confusion is frightening for community members like Bill Hauser.
“Who’s minding the store then? He is the chief. His responsibility is to keep his personnel in the know and on the go. Those people keep our community safe”
Sullivan says there’s no time table that he’s aware of for when a decision could be made.
Community members and the fire department handed-in a petition to have the police chief re-instated. It had just over 100 signatures in about a day.
