The Town of Thorp Board addressed important personnel matters at its February 12th meeting, including the job duties and descriptions for town employees, focusing on the current employee’s responsibilities, work hours, and lunch break requirements. Chairman Andruszkiewicz reviewed the 2012 job description and asked the board if it was still acceptable.
“Is it good enough?” he inquired. The board agreed that the 2012 job description remained adequate.
As the issue arose of how many hours the town employee would work each week, Chairman Louie Andruszkiewicz and Supervisor Andy Slowiak approved a 40-hour workweek for the town employee. Supervisor Bob Kodl disagreed, suggesting the matter be discussed in closed session at the next meeting to ensure it followed proper procedures.
“I wanted to do it the legal way,” Kodl explained. Andruszkiewicz clarified that he had consulted with the Town’s Association, which confirmed the process was correct.
Supervisor Kodl remarked, “My question is if he’s putting in 40 hours, let’s see what he does. If it’s 40 below zero, is he going to sit and look out the window?” He stated that as long as the employee remains busy, he had no issue with the hours.
Town residents who attended the meeting, including James Hickman, emphasized the need to offer competitive wages and hours to retain good employees, warning that low hours might result in losing workers to other opportunities.
“We have to be competitive to keep good guys,” Hickman stated. “They can get swiped right up,” he added, emphasizing the importance of offering consistent working hours. Slowiak agreed, noting that the job must offer reliability.
When questioned about his future plans regarding his job, the current town employee responded, “I might be looking.”
Hickman expressed his hope that the town employee would stay. However, on February 14th, town employee Jerry Nowolbieski resigned and the board accepted Nowobielski’s resignation at the following meeting. They then voted to place an ad for a new employee while temporarily hiring resident Dave Potaczek as town employee.
On February 19th, a construction meeting was held at the new town hall, where the board did a walkthrough of the new hall and garage with Henry Berry of Ratsch Engineering Company and Lewis Horst of Horst Construction. Here the board announced Chairman Andruszkiewicz’s resignation, effective February 14th. The resignation followed the contentious February 12th meeting on employee job duties. Andruszkiewicz expressed that the situation had become overwhelming.
“It got to be too much for me,” he said of recent events. “I just want to thank the people because it was really a pleasure working with them and I did enjoy my job for a lot of years. I did enjoy it and we got a lot done.” He continued, “The residents of the Town of Thorp have been very good and very well understanding. I tried to serve them the best that I could.”
The board accepted Andruszkiewicz’s resignation and approved Michael Boehlke as the new chairman. Boehlke, who is running unopposed in the April election, will serve for the remainder of Andruszkiewicz’s term. Andruszkiewicz, who is also on the April ballot for second supervisor, has stated he will not accept the position if elected.
The next regular board meeting will be held March 12th at 7 p.m.

In other news
The Town of Thorp board approved the hiring of Richard Horst to facilitate the sale of the current town hall. Horst will handle advertising, the sale process, and paperwork for a 5% commission. He estimated the process would take about three weeks. A minimum bid of $125,000 was set for the town hall sale. Regarding the town garage, it was agreed that ownership would return to the landowner, with an April 1st settlement