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Municipal judge issue comes back to Onalaska council tonight

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A lot has happened in the month since the Onalaska’s last city council meeting.

Onalaska’s police chief resigned suddenly, the fire chief announced he’d be retiring soon and the municipal judge has been under pressure to resign.

Tonight, the council might cast a vote of ‘no confidence’ in Judge John Brinckman, who has said the handling of traffic tickets for Onalaska is not one of his specific duties.

“It’s OK for somebody to say, ‘Resign,'” Council president Bob Muth said. “Well, what happens afterwards? Let’s have some understanding of what’s going on or what could happen before you start rushing in.

Muth pointed out Brinckman serves several communities as municipal judge. Onalaska could withdraw from that joint court

“I’ve asked the simple question, ‘Suppose Judge Brinckman decides to resign. What happens?'” Muth said. “There has to be a special election, I’m assuming?”

Muth added that there’s only so much the city can do.

“We’ve got peple trying to dismiss him and we haven’t got the authority,” Muth said.

Mayor Joe Chilsen wanted Brinckman to speak at tonight’s council meeting but the judge said he’d rather discuss the situation in a different setting.

As it turns out, the mayor is out of town and won’t be at the meeting, anyway.

 

 

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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