April 4, 2026
By TIM HUNDT
VIROQUA Wis. – A meeting of the Vernon County general government committee meeting on April 1, was packed with difficult issues. Contentious issues often seem to flow through the General Government Committee that oversees human resources and the county attorney (among other areas). This agenda included a policy on carrying weapons on county grounds, a proposal to make the contracted county attorney a full-time employee, and resolutions to fight a large utility line. Committee Chair Alycann Taylor has a style that generally allows for free discussion and compromise, but this meeting seemed to reveal some underlying tensions that bubbled to the surface as the discussions unfolded.
One of the issues was the process that is underway to hire a new administrative coordinator. The county is currently trying to fill its top executive position after Administrative Coordinator Cassandra Hanan announced she will step down effective May 1.
Hanan, who took over the position in 2023 after a tumultuous period where the county transitioned from county administrator to administrative coordinator, cited a desire to spend more time with her family as her reason for leaving.
The search for her replacement quickly sparked debate when the committee scheduled interviews for internal candidates on the afternoon of April 1 even though the public application deadline did not close until April 5.
The discussion opened with County Clerk Jerry Pedretti accusing the committee of operating with a double standard regarding application deadlines and interviewing early.
“I am confused by how last month it was one thing but this month it is different,” Pedretti said. “What makes it right to do it now but it was not okay to do it a month ago”.
Pedretti’s recollection of the underlying logic discussed at that meeting is accurate, though the conversation was a general discussion about human resources practices rather than a formal committee vote or policy directive prohibiting early interviews.
A check of the meeting record from the March 4 meeting shows that the committee discussed closing dates for postings.
At that meeting Pedretti asked why the county uses hard closing dates on job postings, specifically referencing the open chief deputy treasurer position, instead of listing them as “open until filled”.
Administrative Coordinator Cassandra Hanan advised at that meeting against the “open until filled” practice, stating that using a hard closing date creates a “cleaner process” because everyone is aware of the exact cutoff. Hanan noted complications of interviewing while a position is still accepting applications, explaining that if the county starts reviewing applications, scheduling interviews, or preparing to make an offer, a last-minute applicant can suddenly hold up the entire process because the county would have to schedule another interview and check their references. Hanan also noted that having a defined end date prevents applicants from feeling discriminated against if they do not understand when the county actually began reviewing applications or interviewing. She described the use of hard closing dates as a “more defendable” practice.
Pedretti also noted that the position he was discussing the prior month ultimately hired an internal candidate as well, making the situations highly comparable.
General Government Committee Chair Alycann Taylor defended the early interviews by explaining they were only for internal candidates and were scheduled to use the committee time efficiently.
“We were just trying to use our time with the people on a calendar efficiently,” said Taylor.
Administrative Coordinator Cassandra Hanan also defended the timeline noting the process was responsive and led by the committee chair.
“It is not something that we would typically do,” said Hanan. “You are talking about a process that is essentially led by the Gen Gov committee and Gen Gov chair in consultation with myself and, Trisha (Human Resources Director Trisha Lepke) made a decision that we were going to interview internal candidates prior to the date of closing”.
“I think it is inappropriate to start interviewing when it is still posted,” said Eggen. “The posting is not up”.
Eggen asked to delay the interviews because he had a committee meeting at the same time and he was the chair of that committee. Supervisor Wayde Lawler pushed back against delaying the interviews for a scheduling conflict that should have been resolved earlier.
“This was already noticed, and I respect the conflict but we should have dealt with that prior to today,” said Lawler. “People are here for these things today”.
Pedretti then shifted the debate to the composition of the interview panel and questioned why nine department heads were invited to participate while five elected officials (who are also department heads) were entirely excluded.
“There was an email that went out to ask department heads if they wanted to be on an interview panel,” said Pedretti. “I was excluded as were all the other elected officers for the county and I am wondering who made that decision and why to exclude us”.
Hanan responded that she had offered to meet with any department heads to discuss their expectations for the new coordinator.
“I said this at the last department head meeting that if anybody wanted to schedule a time with me to sit down and talk about it then I would give the feedback to the Gen Gov Committee which I plan to do today,” said Hanan.
Pedretti pointed out that he had attended that meeting.
Taylor explained the decision to exclude elected officials from the panel was based on the precedent set during the previous search that resulted in hiring Hanan because the administrative coordinator supervises department heads but does not supervise elected officials.
“Having the department heads be able to interview who will be essentially overseeing their job was why the distinction between elected officials and department heads was made,” said Taylor. “We were trying to follow what we had done before to keep precedence set”.
Pedretti countered that elected officials still rely on the coordinator and must work under the same county policies and he was upset he was not even asked to participate.
Lawler suggested the committee needed to have a formal discussion about their hiring policies at a future meeting to clear up the confusion.
“So again we want to clarify our hiring process and that you know like formalize that,” said Lawler. “I think we should in a meeting where it is on the agenda”.
“I do not have a problem that they are not being chosen,” said Pedretti. “I just was having a problem with them not being asked”.
Eggen noted that he did not remember elected officials being explicitly excluded during the last hiring process.
“I recall we interviewed three people but I do not recall any conversation regarding elected department heads,” said Eggen. “I just did not even think about them till they were not here”.
County Board Chair Lorn Goede then voiced his own frustration over being left out of the candidate vetting process and questioned why certain applicants were already being passed over.
“I would like to know as Vernon County Board Chair why I was not in the loop here,” said Goede. “Who decided to eliminate some very highly qualified people with big time college degrees and executive positions”.
Taylor said she was not familiar with the issues Goede was raising and that no one was eliminated from the process, as they were following the same process as the last time the same position was filled. Taylor said that Hanan was simply reviewing applicants as she would for any other open position in the county.
“Cassie is doing what she would do for any position,” said Taylor. “Vetting qualified candidates and then bringing us the candidates to interview like any other position.”
The meeting was filled with even more emotion when a supervisor let the name of one of the internal applicants slip. That caused a different county employee in an adjoining office to walk into the public meeting to confront the committee over the breach of confidentiality.
“I am really upset right now because number one I am an employee and if I apply for a job my name should not be put up a board meeting and it just was dropped,” said the staff person.
The staff member fiercely criticized the supervisors for their careless handling of applicant identities.
“That is so unprofessional,” she said. “I am very upset I just cannot believe that just happened”.
The supervisor that made the mistake apologized for the error and the meeting was halted for a break before resuming to go into closed session for the scheduled interviews.
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