Setting record straight on official's firing

Once again on May 14, Jim Fuller and the Daily Herald sensationalized and inaccurately reported a situation at the Kane County Board, which is under "new management" and Democratic majority rule. This time their headline screams "Kane County fires another Human Resource Director."

Can you imagine working in an environment where a gaggle of politicians huddle behind closed doors with their expensive, taxpayer-paid lawyers, then send a delegation of five authority figures up one flight of stairs to your office to tell you to get your purse and publicly humiliate you by escorting you out of the building where you've worked for nearly four years, as if you were some kind of thief in the night?

The Herald's story says, "Wetzel and Lauzen enacted several changes to the employee handbook. Among them was eliminating the grievance procedure for employees who believed they were unfairly disciplined or terminated ... " This is incorrect.

As anyone can see in the public record, Sylvia Wetzel, who was then the county's human services executive director, sent to the board proposals for clarifications and reforms of the county's discipline, appeals and grievance policies, which were later "amended" by the full board and approved on Nov. 12, 2019.

What really happened to Ms. Wetzel, a minority woman who was selected four years ago out of a strong pool of 14 qualified candidates, is that she had the guts to stand up to an assistant state's attorney who improperly negotiated cases on behalf of taxpayers, exposed an employee who appeared to be falsifying payroll records, and produced many other examples of doing her duty.

You need to know and watch what's happening under new county management with your hard-earned tax dollars.

Chris Lauzen

Former Kane County Board Chairman