Grand Chute Town Supervisor Ron Wolff's trial begins today. Here's what to know

Kelli Arseneau, Appleton Post-Crescent
·4 min read

APPLETON – A two-day trial is scheduled to begin today for a Grand Chute town supervisor accused of misconduct.

Ron Wolff, 64, is charged with having private interest in a public contract, a Class I felony, for accepting a landscaping contract with Grand Chute while serving as a member of the town board.

If the jury finds him guilty, Wolff will face a maximum of 3½ years in prison, a fine of $10,000, or both.

What is Wolff accused of?

In June 2021, Wolff's landscaping company, Lakeshore Cleaners Inc., was hired by Grand Chute to do plantings around the ponds at the Champion Center, at 5000 W. Champion Drive.

According to court records, Wolff was elected and sworn in as a town supervisor in April 2021. He submitted a quote for the Champion Center pond restoration project on May 11, 2021, upon soliciting from the engineering firm employed by Grand Chute.

Grand Chute Supervisor Ron Wolff talks with supporters in court following a motion hearing on Friday, January 26, 2024 in Outagmie County Circuit Court in Appleton, Wis. Judge Mark McGinnis ruled that Wolff will be allowed to make "good faith" affirmative defense in criminal trial. In June 2021, Wolff's landscaping company, Lake Shore Cleaners Inc., was hired by Grand Chute to do plantings around the ponds at the Champion Center. Wolff was charged in July with having private interest in a public contract, a Class I felony.

Wolff's company submitted the only bid for the project. The town of Grand Chute authorized the quote June 1, after a unanimous vote that Wolff abstained from.

Lakeshore Cleaners completed the work, and the town paid Wolff's company a total of $27,948 by December 2021.

But Wisconsin law limits the amount of money a person in public office can make in a private contract to $15,000 in a year. According to a criminal complaint, the Grand Chute director of public works said no concerns were raised about the amount of the quote and Wolff's role on the town board until after the town approved the quote.

Wolff told an investigator that then-town administrator Jim March researched potential issues with the project but informed Wolff that because of a statutory exemption related to soil erosion control, Wolff could move forward with the work. The director of public works also said they believed March found a soil erosion "loophole" in state statutes that made an exemption from the $15,000 limit.

The complaint states that exemption was not applicable in this case.

March also told an investigator Wolff claimed he had divested from his business before making his offer or doing the work at the Champion Center. However, "it was later revealed to the administrator that Wolff was actually in an ownership role in the company," the complaint states.

What will each side argue?

Wolff's attorney, Nathan Otis, may present evidence at trial that Wolff acted in good faith and his actions do not make him liable for a crime.

Wolff had only been in office for a few weeks at the time he submitted his bid for the project, and was even informed by town officials that his actions were legal, Otis said at a motion hearing in January.

Assistant Attorneys General Nathaniel Adamson and Robert Kaiser Jr., who are prosecuting the case, argue that as an elected official, Wolff had ethical obligations that he failed to follow and a month to understand what he was and was not permitted to do in his new role.

RELATED: Grand Chute supervisor charged with felony allowed to present evidence he acted in 'good faith'

A timeline of the case and related legal battles

  • March 22, 2022: Agents from the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation executed search warrants on Wolff, a residence in Grand Chute, a residence in Nichols and Lakeshore Cleaners Inc., to search for evidence of misconduct in public office.

  • March 30, 2022: Wolff and his wife, Karri Wolff, filed a federal lawsuit alleging their civil rights were violated when their properties were raided.

  • May 2023: Former Town Administrator Jim March filed a federal lawsuit against Grand Chute, Town Chair Jason Van Eperen and supervisors Jeff Ings and Wolff, alleging March was fired in retaliation for cooperating with the state investigation into Wolff. The case is still ongoing.

  • July 2023: Wolff was charged with having private interest in a public contract.

  • October 2023: Wolff's federal lawsuit was dismissed. U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled the investigators' actions were protected under the doctrine of qualified immunity.

  • December 2023: Wolff filed a counter-lawsuit to March's lawsuit, alleging March set him up to be charged with a crime for the Champion Center landscaping project. Wolff claims March planned to entrap Wolff either so Wolff would need to leave the Grand Chute Town Board or so that Wolff would abandon his political platform of abolishing Grand Chute's use of special assessments to pay for public improvements.

  • Feb. 28-29, 2024: Wolff goes to trial.

Kelli Arseneau can be reached at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ArseneauKelli.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Grand Chute town supervisor's trial begins today. Here's what to know