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Charges Dismissed Against Mercer School Board Members

Iron County Judge Dismisses Charges Of Misconduct

By
Gavel
Joe Gratz (CC)

Charges have been dismissed against several current and former members of one northern Wisconsin school board. Three Mercer School Board members were accused of misconduct in office and two former members were charged with falsely acting as a public official.

A criminal complaint filed in Iron County Circuit Court this month said the school board sent a letter to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction last May to explain questions that came up during an audit.

The five faced felony charges because only three were school board members at the time the letter was signed. Deanna Pierpont faced two charges of misconduct. Noel Brandt and Michele “Micki” Holmstrom were each charged with misconduct, while Colleen “Kelly” Kohegyi and Denise Thompson were accused of falsely exercising a function of public office.

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Attorney Jim McKenzie with McKenzie & Muskett Attorneys At Law in Bessemer, Michigan, represented Thompson, Pierpont and Kohegyi.

“What was stated in the probable cause portion of the complaint did not add up to the elements necessary to establish those crimes,” said McKenzie.

McKenzie said Iron County Judge Patrick Madden ruled there was no criminal intent or criminal act that occurred.

McKenzie said his clients are relieved. “Of course they wanted to be exonerated and not under the pressure of a felony complaint, and that’s where they are at the present,” he said.

A second charge of misconduct against Pierpont for erasing a video of a public school board meeting was also dismissed. Online records indicated the court responded there is no law requiring meetings to be videotaped.

The letter referenced in the case stemmed from a DPI audit of the district’s use of an account for community programs and services known as Fund 80. DPI clawed back around $175,000 last year after the agency’s audit showed the district inappropriately spent money in the account by increasing wages and benefits for a few district employees, including District Administrator Erik Torkelson.

In the May 2018 letter, school board members explained that the board had made errors regarding meeting records and functions when they approved bonuses for those employees.

“We look forward to your resolving these matters, so we can put the challenges being experienced by our staff, administration and community behind us,” the letter stated. “Please know our boards pride themselves in doing the right thing and we have been diligent as ‘we fail forward to success.’”

Christa Reinert, a former school board member who was voted out of office on April 2, had raised questions over district spending.

She said that prompted Torkelson to seek school board approval for legal consult on filing charges against her and others in the community in an October 2017 meeting. She sought a video copy of the meeting and was told it wasn’t available.

Reinert, who was at the proceedings Monday, said she was extremely dismayed about the dismissal of the charges.

“For him to throw out Deanna Pierpont’s second charge of destroying a video, I was on the board for three years and our board meetings were recorded every month up until the incident at the October 2017 meeting,” she said.

Reinert said the outcome was a “slap in the face” to those who defend the freedoms of this country.

The judge dismissed all charges on Monday. Torkelson and District Attorney Matthew Tingstad could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.