Brillion parts ways with city administrator

By David Nordby

The Brillion News

March 18, 2022

BRILLION - The City of Brillion council members voted Friday afternoon during a special meeting to release Peter Wills from his city administrator position.

Brillion Mayor Mike Smith released the following statement:

Per City of Brillion Municipal Code and Employment Agreement for the position of City Administrator, and Wisconsin State Statute 17.12 to which they refer, the Common Council of the City of Brillion has elected to release City Administrator Peter Wills from the office of City Administrator, effective immediately.

On behalf of the City and myself personally, I would like to thank Mr. Wills for his tireless work correcting the financial future of our City. It is without question that the last 18 months have required incredible sacrifice and determination to achieve these goals. We thank Peter for those contributions and wish him the best moving forward.

Wills during his first meeting on Nov. 23, 2020.

More than one hour and 15 minutes of the meeting was in closed session. The city holds a legal right to discuss all personnel matters in closed session. Only council and Smith were present for the duration of the closed session. Wills was called in for around five minutes. City clerk-treasurer Patty Schreiber was also called in later in the closed session.

The vote to release Wills was 6-1. Joe Behnke, Joe Levash, Tim Hanson, Sarah Pielhop, TJ Moehr and Shelly Lau voted yes. Carrie Wenzel voted no.

Wisconsin State Statute 17.12 is the legislature for the removal and suspension of city officers. It can be viewed here https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/17/12?view=section.

City council had placed Wills on paid leave at the start of this week, during the special city council meeting on Monday, March 14. The vote to place Wills on paid leave "due to aggressive and inappropriate conduct in the workplace" was a unanimous vote.

Wills was hired to be city administrator in November 2020 after a tenure as executive director of Progress Lakeshore, an economic development group of Manitowoc County.

He replaced Lori Gosz as Brillion administrator.

No timeline has been placed on hiring a new city administrator. The city is also in the process of hiring a new public works director, to replace the resigning Andy Geiger.