WHITEHALL — Whitehall city council member Tom Ziemer addressed the recent resignation of former city treasurer Alyssa Seaver during Tuesday's council meeting, saying he felt the council should've been notified of Seaver's changed employment status prior to her resignation and notified prior to the open position being advertised. He said he'd like to see the issue discussed at a future work session.
Seaver, who was promoted to treasurer in 2022 after previously serving as deputy treasurer, had recently been demoted to assistant finance officer, city manager Scott Huebler confirmed following the meeting. He declined to elaborate on why the move was made beyond saying it was a personnel matter. Seaver's resignation from that position came last Monday, June 16.
The city has already received multiple applications for the vacant position, Huebler said last week. He and deputy treasurer Brook Schiller have taken on "the lion's share" of the treasurer responsibilities until the position is filled, with the goal of doing so by mid-August, prior to Huebler's planned retirement.
Seaver could not be reached for comment at press time. Brook's husband, Anthony Schiller, said Seaver felt other city personnel were not allowing her to do her job correctly.
"She wasn't being allowed to question financial decisions," Anthony Schiller said of Seaver in a phone interview Tuesday. "She wasn't allowed to speak to council...The fact of the matter is, she has a rough job. If something isn't going right in a department, she has to be the bearer of bad news and tell them they're over budget. When she'd let Scott know that, he would just kind of ignore her."
Huebler said he did not want to speak for Seaver when asked if the latter had expressed similar issues during her time as treasurer.
"It was basically a one-line resignation," Huebler said last week regarding Seaver's departure. "She sent it by email so I didn't have the opportunity to talk to her about it."
Seaver, along with Brook Schiller, previously hosted a property tax education event at city hall in May and expressed the goal of building the event to a wider audience in future years.
During the meeting, the council unanimously approved a sizable budget amendment that accounted for the city not receiving grants it applied for involving park improvements and street repairs. The budget changes, which included an $802,000 adjustment to the Warner Street project, were covered by funds for capital projects, water, sewer, and street. Some of the increase, Huebler said, was a result of the council approving an expansion of a planned project to pave streets up to Colby. The in-progress pocket park's bathroom also came in over budget due to increased material costs.
Council member Scott Brown, during discussion, expressed that the city shouldn't have budgeted for grants it wasn't sure it would receive, but Huebler noted that doing so - and including matching funds - is part of the required process for grant applications.
The council also issued unanimous approval for a charitable gaming license for the Friends of the Playhouse nonprofit group. The approval, Huebler said, simply serves as the city's recognition of the group as a charity and allows it to conduct raffles and other fundraising activities. Another nonprofit group, Walk the Beat White Lake, received unanimous approval to display a banner near city hall promoting its July 19 music festival.
Earlier in the meeting, council member Steve Sikkenga noted an RV that he said has been parked off-street next to a local RV park "for six weeks," asking whether there is an ordinance against such long-term use. Huebler said the planning commission presented an ordinance on that topic to council in 2018 and it was voted down, but the commission is in the process of bringing another one to the council in the near future.
Council member Debi Hillebrand stated she hopes the word was getting out regarding Thursday's scheduled community engagement session with the city manager finalists. The race to be the new city manager has been reduced to four people after Cory Isaacs and Brent Raeth withdrew. According to Brown, Isaacs accepted a position in Wisconsin, and Raeth announced on Facebook last week that he was withdrawing from consideration to maintain his focus on his current roles at CatchMark, as Montague school board president and as chair of the White Lake Chamber & Visitor's Bureau board. Raeth has also since taken over as Montague-Whitehall Rotary club president for 2025-26.
