Grand Chute Town Hall. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON (WLUK) – Next week’s scheduled trial for a Grand Chute supervisor charged with allegedly having his company bid on a town contract while he was in office has been put on hold by the Court of Appeals.
Ronald Wolff has pleaded not guilty. A two-day trial was scheduled to start Feb. 28.
However, on Thursday the appeals court stayed the proceedings while prosecutors appeal a pre-trial ruling by Judge Mark McGinnis.
A Jan. 26 ruling on Wolff’s “affirmative defense” is at issue, court records show. The state asked Judge McGinnis for a delay after that, which was refused, so the prosecutors took the case to the appeals court.
The criminal complaint describes the charge this way:
The Defendant, being a public officer, did, between May 4, 2021, and June 1, 2021, in his private capacity, negotiate, bid for, or enter into a contract in which the Defendant had a direct or indirect private pecuniary interest, while at the same time being authorized to participate in his capacity as a public officer in the making of the contract or to perform in regard to that contract some official function requiring the exercise of discretion on the Defendant’s part as a public officer,” the complaint states.
Wolff owned Lakeshore Cleaners. Although he said he sold his interest in the company, that wasn’t effective until July 2022. Wolff was elected on April 6, 2021, as a Grand Chute Town Board Supervisor. Wolff was sworn into office on April 13, 2021, and Wolff’s term began on April 20, 2021.
Lakeshore Cleaners submitted a bid for a contract for a pond prairie seeding contract in June 2021 at the Champions Center.
Wolff denied he had ever cast any formal vote in his official capacity as a town supervisor that pertained to himself personally or his business,” the complaint states. “Wolff initially denied having received any contracts for services from the Town of Grand Chute while he was on the board of supervisors. Wolff claimed there had been higher-ups who prevented him from being able to receive service contracts from the town. Wolff admitted that he had received a contract from the town engineering contractor to perform landscape plantings work for the ponds around the Champion Center.
Wolff abstained from the June 1 vote approving the contract, the complaint states. But the ethics policy given to supervisors describes the law.
“You must keep in mind that the felony statute prohibits a public officer or employee from acting in a private capacity to negotiate, bid, or enter into a contract where the officer is authorized to required by law to participate in an official capacity in making the contract or exercising discretion under the contract, unless an exception applies. This means that it is possible to abstain and still violate the law – you may have to choose between doing business with your unit and keeping your public office or job,” the policy states.
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