GRAND CHUTE — The Wisconsin Ethics Commission has dismissed complaints filed against Town Supervisor Beth English and former Grand Chute Town Administrator Jim March.
March's attorney, Michael Fox, said the dismissal of the complaints was "extremely significant," given that the bar for advancing a complaint is reasonable suspicion that someone committed an ethics violation.
"A decision dismissing the complaint at this stage doesn't just mean the complaint is meritless," Fox told The Post-Crescent. "It means that there wasn't even evidence to create a reasonable suspicion that it had merit so as to warrant further investigation."
The complaint against English was filed in September 2023 by Walt Nocito, whom English defeated in the April 2023 election .
Nocito alleged that English colluded with March to avoid being named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit that March filed against Grand Chute, Town Chair Jason Van Eperen and supervisors Jeff Ings and Ron Wolff . The lawsuit claims the defendants fired March in retaliation for cooperating with a state criminal investigation . The case is scheduled for a jury trial in December.
English voted in favor of terminating March on May 2, 2023, but then changed her position and made a motion to rehire March on June 6, 2023. Her motion failed on a 2-3 vote.
English denied that she colluded with March and told the Ethics Commission that she changed her vote on his termination after receiving phone calls from constituents.
The Ethics Commission said Wisconsin law provides that an elected official is not personally liable for actions taken within the scope of their authority.
As such, the commission said "there was no private financial gain or anything of substantial value obtained (or any financial loss avoided)" by English by not being named as a defendant.
Further, a violation would require that English solicited or accepted anything of value.
"There is no evidence of any such offer or gift by Mr. March, or any such solicitation or acceptance" by English, the commission said.
"I'm really relieved" by the decision, English said. "It's been a long time — a year."
The complaint against March was filed in October 2023 by Ron Torrance, who ran unsuccessfully for Town Board in 2022 and 2024 .
Torrance alleged that March attempted to influence English to reverse her vote on his termination by excluding her from the federal lawsuit.
March told the Ethics Commission there was no reason to name English as a defendant in his wrongful termination lawsuit because the basis of the alleged retaliation predated her election to the Town Board.
The Ethics Commission again stated there was no private financial gain or any financial loss avoided by excluding English from the lawsuit and that there was no evidence of any offer or gift by March nor any solicitation or acceptance by English.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com . Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke .
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Ethics Commission dismisses complaints against Grand Chute supervisor, former administrator
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