Village of Trempealeau receives ERD complaint

The Trempealeau village board spent about 30 minutes in closed session with an attorney last week discussing a fair employment complaint filed against the village.

An ERD complaint pertains to an employee complaining about issues such as hiring or firing processes/actions and can also include discrimination complaints by current or former employees. The closed session discussion occurred during the board’s regular meeting last Thursday.

A public records request filed by the Times to obtain a copy of the complaint was denied in an emailed letter from village attorney Jerilyn Jacobs.

Jacobs wrote in her email that the Times’ request for the complaint was denied “as it seeks a record containing personally identifiable information that is collected or maintained in connection with a complaint, investigation or other circumstances that may lead to an enforcement action, administrative proceeding, arbitration proceeding or court proceeding.”

Legal counsel for the Wisconsin Newspaper Association indicated that this exemption from open records laws would only apply to employees, which does not include high ranking public officials in local office.

It was not immediately clear whether the complaint was filed by such an official, and the Times continues to investigate the complaint.