Personnel issue in
City Hall lingers in Balaton
City clerk denies claims of unprofessionalism; future in position uncertain
A personnel issue in Balaton’s City Hall was reintroduced at Monday night’s Balaton City Council meeting.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Lisa Cain and Amy Gillingham spoke in defense of City Clerk Kimberly Wall. At the June meeting, the council held an open personnel meeting and brought concerns from residents of the City office being “unwelcoming.” Wall denied all claims, stating she “has never raised my voice at someone in this office.”
The issue drew more than just those two attendees to Monday night’s meeting.
Although there were no other public comments on the agenda, the Balaton City Office was full and folding chairs were brought in to allow all attendees to sit. During the open section of the meeting, both Gillingham and Cain — relatives of Wall — questioned the council’s integrity.
“It’s disappointing to hear that councilmen have been making vague accusations of unprofessionalism and rudeness from Kimberly Wall,” Gillingham stated.
She also referenced a $3.50 an hour raise Wall was given in May of this year, and cited the inconsistency of the council’s words and actions.
“You don’t give that kind of raise to someone you consider unprofessional, or unfit for the position,” she said.
Cain said much of the same. “This council should be governed by ethics and integrity,” she said. “And I don’t think it is right now.”
The meeting was briefly closed for an attorney-client meeting with City Attorney Matt Gross, and present council members Mayor Lambertus, Tracy McCloud, and Greg Erickson. After the meeting was re-opened, Wall asked the council to explain instances where her behavior had been unprofessional, brought up an issue regarding a $50,000 grant for the Balaton EDA that she claimed she had been blamed for “losing” and cited communication issues with EDA Director Tara Onken. The grant was never filed. Further discussion ensued, and Erickson stated: “We couldn’t file it because she (Tara) couldn’t get the information to put into the grant application.”
Wall replied that although she did not reply to Onken’s initial email about the grant, Onken never brought up the grant again.
“The only thing I do for the EDA is balance their books and send out any bills they may have,” Wall said.
Personnel Committee members Lambertus and McCloud then met with Wall in a closed meeting, stating termination was not on the table.
Wall was to take the rest of the week off to decide her next course of action.
• The meeting saw reports from Lyon County Sheriff Adam Connor and from Balaton Municipal Liquor Store Manager Ashley Haroldson.
The Fun Fest weekend was a success: Connor reported “nothing of note” from the weekend, and cited a regular number of calls for the month of June as well. Haroldson reported Fun Fest weekend earnings of about $11,000. She also brought questions of a $.50 raise to the council. She stated she was promised when she was hired that after 90 days she would receive a $.50 raise. The first 90 days ended in May, and she had not yet received her raise.
The council assured her that the raise would go into effect immediately and that she would also receive her extra pay from the past two months. She also expressed concern that employees of the store were not receiving their checks until Tuesday of each week, even though paydays were on Monday.
Discussion was held among councilmen and City Clerk Kimberly Wall; Lambertus assured Haroldson he would call the bank and find out if there was an extra charge for same-day payroll, and if that is something the city budget would allow.
It was also brought to attention by Wall that the liquor store is still in a valid contract with a company for credit card processing for a device the store no longer uses. Councilmen stated they were not aware of the contract.
