PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — Neighbors in Port Washington are concerned about transparency at City Hall.
The TMJ4 Newsroom has received several tips from people who live there.
They say they are concerned that the Mayor and members of the Common Council have signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding the purchase of land and development plans for a large microchip manufacturing facility in the nearby Town of Port Washington.
Some are now saying that the alderman who disclosed that the NDA was signed has been stripped of his duties by the city's Mayor.
After hearing from many concerned neighbors, TMJ4 Lighthouse Reporter Ryan Jenkins went to Port Washington to learn more.
"If we weren't pushing this, we would hear nothing and that's not fair to all of the constituents who live here in Ward 7," said Pat Morrissey. "And, in stripping an alderman of committee assignments, it means that we have no representation."
Morrissey is a neighbor who lives in Alderman Sigwart's district. Sigwart tells TMJ4 he was stripped of his committee assignments by Port Washington Mayor Ted Nietzke.
Watch: Port Washington neighbors demand transparency amid land development concerns
Sigwart said that this all happened after he simply acknowledged that elected officials had signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) related to plans to possibly bring a microchip manufacturing facility to the area.
"All of this became real secretive information that it appeared the mayor and the common council knew about, and we as citizens could not know about, and that made no sense because that was going to impact us a lot," said Morrissey.
The plans for the rumored facility have been secretive from the start.In May, Jenkins spoke with officials and neighbors after a mystery company looked to buy more than 1,000 acres of land in the nearby Town of Port Washington.
Those plans have not come to fruition but neighbors in both the city and town now say they're weary.
TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins: "So if the elected officials did sign that NDA and they're not sharing what they're thinking, what they're talking about, that's concerning to you?"
Pat Morrissey: "Very much so. We elect them to represent us. Our officials should represent those whom they are accountable to and they're accountable to us and that has not been the case."
Morrissey is now asking Nietzke to speak up and let Port Washington residents know what is going on.
"Why was he stripped of his committee assignments and why were [we] as constituents not told? We did not know this," she said.
A question she says Nietzke and the common council should answer publicly.
The next Port Washington Common Council meeting is scheduled for Dec. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
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