MINOCQUA – With the support of the full town board, the electorate at Minocqua’s annual meeting Thursday voted to make the post of elected town treasurer an appointed one when the current holder’s term expires in April 2019.
Town clerk Roben Haggart made the motion to change the elected post currently held by long-time treasurer Laura Mendez. Haggart has said her office picks up some of the treasurer’s workload because Mendez does not hold office hours during the day as she has a full-time job at the local high school.
“The town of Minocqua needs a treasurer that is available during business office hours. There has to be someone here one, two days a week, whatever, just for consistency so that the lawyers, the banks, the accountants they know when they can reach the treasurer. Currently, this is not the case."“I think this is really the only way to restore the expectation of the taxpayers to have that treasurer available during some normal business office hours.”
Town chairman Mark Hartzheim says the town board will schedule a meeting to discuss hours, pay and a benefit package for the appointed post. The board can appoint someone as town treasurer for either two or three years, according to town attorney Greg Harrold.
