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Pinsonneault for Village of Weston President, Weston, WI (2026)

08/25/2026

Last night the Board of Trustees met for their first of several 2027 budget sessions. Unfortunately, they didn't feel it was appropriate to post much of what was discussed last night in the meeting packet so that the rest of us could follow along, or be aware of what was to be shared.

There was a power point presentation and some discussion spanning the course of about two hours. Sadly, this presentation was not available for the public to see. The only way one would be allowed to have access was to be in the board room and watch it live. But wait, they did say that after adoption of the budget that this information would be posted on the village website.

I snapped a photo of the screen when the budget priorities were listed. What actually appeared on the agenda was as follows:

-Pay plan adjustment and 2027 wage increases
-Health benefits and direct primary care update
-Trustee compensation for 2027-2029 term
-Capital projects fund

It seems strange to me that the first budget meeting was designed to fund pay raises, and secure funding for robotic lawn mowers. There was little to no discussion on high level goals or specifics of how we plan to fully fund the fire department.

One would think that after a failed "fire fee," and the rejection by the electorate of a referendum to fund the fire department, that the primary goal would specifically articulate what the plan is to allocate sufficient funding for public safety.

07/27/2026

What is a pool? If you look in the dictionary it will state "a pool is a hole in the ground that you pour money into." Not really, but the reality is, pools do not make money. With the exception of Noah's Ark type facilities which cost big dollars to enter, municipal pools are not revenue generators for the community. They are a "service" which is provided. Much like plowing snow, and fire protection. Neither of those have user fees which offset the cost of the service. Tonight the topic of Kennedy park came up at the parks meeting. I had the following public comments related to it:" Good Evening,

First, I would ask that the minutes are corrected. I delivered a letter as a matter of public comment last month at this committee. I was unable to make it for the public comment period at the unreasonable 4pm start time that this body insists to meet at. I handed the comment to the committee at the end of the meeting and asked for it to be included in the record. It never made it there, so I am formally presenting another copy while on camera. I would ask that the chair read this comment into the record so it does not conveniently get “lost” again.

On tonight's agenda is discussion on the Kennedy Park Capital Campaign. There is currently a Memorandum of Understanding entered into by the Friends of Kennedy Park and the Village of Weston. It highlights the responsibilities of each party. The Friends of Kennedy park are tasked with conducting a fundraising campaign to raise funds for the project, organizing and tracking ALL donations, donations over $500 will be recognized with signage.

To date, when you exclude the two large contributions from the Rajek family, and Merril Iron and steel, only $105,950 has been raised over a three year period. The reporting has not shown actual expenses or receipts. There have been two marketing firms hired, and both have stepped away due to non engagement by the Friends Group. Multiple committee members who were heavily involved in the project have stepped down and ceased actively assisting in the effort. At this pace, the Friends of Kennedy Park will not achieve the fundraising goal required to complete the park buildout for hundreds of years. I am asking that this body recommend to the board of Trustees that the MOU is terminated and that another fundraising entity is found who is interested in actually raising the amount of money required to make this project a reality.

Finally, the pool expenses are out of control. There are 80 thousand dollars supplemented to the operations of the park annually, and it still loses money. This does not even begin to factor in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs, maintenance, staff time, equipment, and capital expenditures which occur every year. The parks director himself stated that the pool is only open for a 72 day season in his report. Then take away days for poor air quality, low attendance, cold weather, and you are under 60 days annually. It is costing more than $3000 per day just to flip the open sign on. More than half of that money consists of borrowed funds we are paying interest on. I respect providing services for the community, and that not every service provided is a break even venture. However, we are hemorrhaging money and no one seems to acknowledge that. When does it stop? How much is too much $10,000 per day? $20,000? Please get a better understanding of these expenses. Take off the blinders and look at more than just the one number in front of you." I Then went off my prepared comments and had to comment on how disappointing it was that there was trash left on the fields, and more bird seed around the dugouts/bleachers than under my bird feeder at home. Pretty sad that after $2 million dollars of investment into the park improvements that the user groups are not doing a better job of keeping it clean. Lets hope that changes

07/24/2026

Monday evening, the board of trustees approved to borrow $4,355,000 to fund the new Mountain Bay Metro Police department and municipal court building. Earlier, in the same meeting, the administrator asked for an acknowledgement of reciept of $362,364.31 from the funds remaining from Everest Metro Police Department.

I addressed the board and requested that the $362,362.31 be earmarked to be utilized exclusively to offset the borrow, and lessen the financial burden to Village of Weston taxpayers.

Under the direction of Mark Maloney's leadership the board did not decide to consider my advise. Instead those dollars which were already collected from the taxpayers for the purpose of police protective services, will be deposited into the general fund to be used for payroll, potholes, and pet projects.

I see this as just another irresponsible, unsustainable, spending choice made. Perhaps some day, we can change this practice and start down a path which continues to provide services, but minimizes the financial burden to the taxpayer.

06/26/2026

Administrator Jami Gebert replied to my questions. Her answers are in grey. The project was indeed paid in full with zero dollars withheld by the village. My objection is not with the construction of the fields. They cannot be "unbuilt" and the money cannot be "unspent."

My objection is to the lack of quality control, oversight, and accountability which has taken place to this point. In most every project there is some percentage of money retained until the project is signed off and the standards of the customer are met. Human beings work on construction projects, and mistakes happen. Even the most skilled craftsman cannot make up for poor quality product which was provided to be installed. He didn't create the concrete, he installed it. She didn't make the fencing material, she installed it.

I totally get that. But, at there end of the day, it is the responsibility of the contractor to make it right for the customer. That may mean contacting the supplier of the material to send new stuff, or if an error happened in the install process, owning that mistake and fixing it.

This process may already be taking place, but the perception here is quite the contrary. The final bill was paid. Which in the rest of the world, would signify that the customer is satisfied with the job. There was not a single mention in a staff report of outstanding items needing to be taken care of in regard to repairing already installed items. The only things which were included in reports were things like waiting on materials and weather to complete the dugouts. Or, they need to test the scoreboard after it gets installed later this week. Not a peep about, we noticed xyz which was already done did not meet the specifications and standards of the project and the contractor is working to repair it by such and such date.

I sent a follow up email to the administrator about this. I think at best, communication with the actual customer aka the village of Weston taxpayers was not adequate throughout the process. Would you pay for a fence that's all scratched up at your own house? You certainly did here.

"Administrator Gebert,

If there are outstanding items on a punch list, why would we not retain any dollars? Seems like that would not be in the best interest of the project owner/village.

When was the "final walkthrough" with the contractor to determine any outstanding items to be corrected? If we have a one year warranty were likely bumping up on that 365 day mark soon. When is 365 days from completion?

Were any of the things I mentioned in my email not identified by staff? To put it another way. If Jim didn't say anything about the fence, or the skim coat, or the mortar stopped on the block, would it end up like the grass did at the municipal center...and still look terrible 5 years later and be the responsibility of the taxpayers to deal with, or pay a second time to fix because we did not hold the contractor responsible.

Perhaps these things are happening, but not once has any of it been shared at a public works or park meeting, showed up in a director's report, or shared in any other manner with the public."

06/25/2026

I had an opportunity to visit Kennedy Park last weekend. Knowing that parking is a disaster, I walked there.

I've driven by the new ball fields a bunch of times, but never took a close look. From the road they look very nice. The closer you get though, the quality of the workmanship starts to show. There were games being played, so I didn't enter the fields. I saw more than enough from the outside of the fence.

Shiny new black fencing, and many of the fence posts already have the paint peeling or scratched off. Concrete coatings peeling off in huge chunks. Mortar slopped all over split face masonry block.

The kind of stuff you know can happen during a construction project, but also the kind of stuff there is no way you'd accept if you personally hired a contractor to perform that work. You would ask them to come back and fix it, and when it is completed in a manner that is consistent with your expectations then you would write that final check.

The more I learn, the more questions I have. Did we really pay the contractor in full for this substandard level of work? We had to retain some percentage just in case they didn't come back to fix any loose ends right? Right?

Here is the email I drafted asking just that:

Good afternoon,

I was at Kennedy park this past weekend and took a look at the ball fields for the first time. I noticed items which I would consider unacceptable if I were the customer paying the bill. Technically, most of the project was funded by borrowed funds, and therefore all 16,000 of us are paying this bill. My questions are as follows:

1. Has the project been paid for in full yet? If not, how much was retained?
2. Who is the individual performing final inspections and signing off on the completion of the work?
3. Was an engineer or other oversight entity involved in any of the project, similar to how we hire them for road projects?
3a If so, who was the oversight entity?
4. What is the warranty on the work performed?
5. What would the next steps be to get the fencing paint corrected, skim coat on the concrete repaired, and the mortar spilled all over the split face block removed?
6. Is the "grass" area shown part of the restoration work included in the project?
7. Is there currently an open "punch list" for items which the contractor is to repair?
7a. If so, what is on the list, and who will be responsible for rechecking that work?

Thanks,
Jim Pinsonneault

06/24/2026

Who's seen a post like this but wondered why you can't physically read the agenda image which is included? Who's ever wondered how to attend a village meeting on Zoom? I know I have. Others have contacted me about it, so I drafted an email to the Board of Trustees and Administrator:

Good morning ,

It has been an adopted practice to publish meeting agendas on social media and in the electronic newsletter. Once upon a time I played a part in the adoption of the aforementioned policy. It was a great step towards transparency and community involvement.

Several years later, feedback has been shared about how to enhance and improve that information delivery with our residents. My role has shifted from an elected leader to an actively involved citizen. With that said, I am suggesting that the board considers directing staff to refine exactly what format information is posted in. Based off resident feedback the following changes would be helpful:

1. Make the posted agenda clearly readable on all platforms. Specifically on the electronic newsletter. The resolution is poor making the content illegible when zoomed to the level the words are visible. I do not know if we use a PDF, JPEG, LMNOP, or some other format, but its not legible across all platforms and devices.

2. Add a zoom link for the meeting in the Facebook post/newsletter/Next Door. Unless you physically download the packet/agenda from the website, I am unaware of any other way to figure out how to attend virtually...and I've attended more meetings than the average village resident. Making the active link available encourages attendance. It is my understanding that the zoom link remains the same for all meetings. If this is the case, post links in way more places. Put a link on the website at the top of the "agenda center" page, and on any social media post referencing a meeting. Make it easy to attend. No one wants to play "Where's Waldo" for 16 minutes to figure out how to attend a meeting virtually.

3. Add a link to download the entire "packet" in every place the meeting is posted. Residents, myself included, often struggle to find information which is technically available, but not user friendly and intuitive to discover. Embedding a link at least gives some sort of a chance for residents to locate information relating to government business.

4. Update the village calendar and upcoming events/news section of the website. If you go to our website calendar and click on events for the day it will list the meeting, but that's where it ends. There should be a link to the agenda/ packet, and a zoom meeting link. Currently it's just a dead end. Without knowing that you have to go back to the main page then click on agenda center, then click on the drop down for the meeting you're interested in then find the right year, date and month, AND hopefully stumble across the download to the agenda/ packet. It could be simplified.

5. Educate the public that there's more information available than what is on the agenda. Some of these meeting informational packets contain literally hundreds of pages. Posting a link to make all 795 pages of material available is much more transparent than posting the minimum required agenda. The agenda has almost no information in it. Staff puts a lot of time and effort into compiling hundreds of pages of content for the meeting. It is all public record. Make it easily available for our citizens. It is archived on the website, but again, a scavenger hunt isn't what folks want.

I look forward to your consideration of taking steps to increase public participation and awareness in local government.

Thanks,

-Jim Pinsonneault

06/22/2026

Tonight the Parks and Recreation committee met at 4pm. I prepared public comments to share in regard to the following posted agenda item "Discussion and possible action on Mowing and Trimming."

Unfortunately I did not arrive on time to speak during the public comment period. I once again object to holding public meetings before 5pm if there is an expectation of public engagement and participation.

I left my comments for addition to the meeting minutes and future reference.

None of the content of my comments below were brought up by the committee or staff. Decisions continue to be made based on feelings instead of facts.

I did learn that there seems to be an understanding between staff that "they were out of trucks for the Parks department to transport Mowing equipment." They had to "borrow" a streets department vehicle. I hope to learn more about this, as my opinion is that ALL of the equipment belongs to the village as a whole. Any available equipment should be made available to other departments as their need arises.

My comments are as follows:

Good Evening, Jim Pinsonneault 5002 Arrow St. I see on the agenda this evening for discussion and action regarding “Mowing and Trimming.”

I think it is an excellent thing we are having this conversation. However, it is nearly impossible for the Parks committee to make an educated recommendation on anything without real data to back up their decisions.

Things which need to be provided are the total capital investment in equipment required to cut the grass, annual fuel costs (the last 5 years), annual maintenance costs (the last 5 years), actual cost of personnel to include benefit packages and fringe benefits (the last 5 years), a detailed list of all areas mowed, exactly which personnel and equipment is required to mow and maintain each area, the time commitment required to maintain each area.

When I say every piece of equipment, I mean every mower, rake, blower, w**d eater, edger, trailer, bagger, spare set of blades, sprayer, EVERYTHING.

Then a prioritization list of what areas are mowed, when they are mowed, and what the priorities are currently. Is an area mowed daily, weekly, bi weekly, etc? Then we can make an accurate assessment of what our current costs to mow are, based on current practice.

Next, a Request For Proposal should be prepared to see what the costs would be if this service was contracted versus being done in house. This RFP should be broken down by area, or frequency and responsibilities, so that it can be determined if this service to the community is better provided by an outside vendor or done in house.

From the outside looking in, I am going to venture a guess that none of the data I am asking for actually exists. There is no real schedule, there is no pulse on the real costs of any of this. Current practice is just to replace equipment every 10 years, fix it when it's broken, put fuel in it when it's empty, and send the crews out to mow.

There is not a profitable business in the world who would choose to operate in this manner. We need to start being more analytical throughout the entire village, and making data backed decisions. Flying by the seat of our pants, and doing what we have always done simply is not sustainable. It is not 1996 any more. There are almost zero places still in business who operate the same way they did 30 years ago without making changes, and are still profitable.

The Village of Weston needs to start evolving, and it's going to take a mountain of work to make it happen. I am asking this body to task department heads to start putting in that work, to increase efficiencies and awareness of operations. I know we already "run lean," but to say there is no where that can be improved is living in a fantasy land.

I look forward to hearing if this recommendation is taken into consideration by this body, or if my words fall on deaf ears, as they generally do.

06/17/2026

The Village board discussed multiple items on Monday evening. They brought back discussion about another referendum to fund the fire department, they glazed over the possibility of the creation of some sort of ethics function being integrated into the municipality, and also talked about the preliminary results of the survey that was taken about the new farmer's market location.

What are your thoughts on these topics?

Below you will find my public comment:

Good evening,

Jim Pinsonneault 5002 Arrow St. First, I would like to point out the omission of multiple public safety and other meeting minutes from the packet. Please find the missing documents and add them onto the website, and subsequent packets. I know these meetings occurred, as I personally attended some of them. Accuracy and details matter, not just sometimes, but all of the time.

Second, you have conducted a survey AFTER moving the farmer’s market. Seems a bit backward to me, but nevertheless…here we are. The results after just 8 days are astounding. 39% rate the new location poor or very poor, 57% prefer or strongly prefer the former location. Problems with things such as parking, traffic flow and ease of access were among the worst rated areas. Parking was identified by 75% of the 275 participants as being a problem.

I would hope that this survey prompts action. I spoke in opposition to locating the market here from day 1. I hate to tell you “I told ya so,” but I didn’t have to. You conducted your own survey, and the results speak for themselves. I would ask this body to take a hard look at finding a better solution for the farmer’s market if you wish to keep it here in the village.

Let's go back to public safety. The fire chief has been reporting for several years how dangerously understaffed his department is. What is the actual plan to adequately fund and staff the fire department? The electorate has spoken, they do not wish to bear additional financial burden to do so. Again tonight there is mention of another referendum. How about we get our p**p in a group and start spending money on essential services, like the fire department, before non essential services. The board borrowed 1.73 million dollars to fund two additional ball fields at Kennedy Park. We already had several fields, which are not all being utilized, but we needed more?

Somehow, I cannot even fully fault the board for making that poor decision. Here is why: the information provided in these RFCs is so zoomed in that you never are allowed to see what the real impact is by voting to approve a project. No where in the packet will it tell you that if we spend $1,000,000 here on this thing, that we will not be able to fund something else. OR that we have overspent in so many areas, that the entire budget is eaten up. I caution all of you before approving expenditures to look at what the overall impact will be, not just “did we have $1,000,000 in the budget for project x. Oh by the way, many times that $1,000,000 was borrowed money, and with interest it costs everyone significantly more than $1,000,000

Perhaps a path forward could be setting goals. Such as a goal of fully funding the fire department for example. And then creating a plan to get there. I have yet to see Mark Maloney set goals in a board meeting, and then track their progress. Once again, I’m probably wrong with that idea, just like I was with saying the Farmer’s Market at Kennedy park was a horrible location.

06/02/2026

Last night the Village Board and Planning Commission met to discuss the results of the community survey which was part of the update to the Village's Comprehensive Plan. This plan is to be updated and reviewed every 10 years per state requirements.

The survey was taken by 681 people, or about 6% of the Village's adult population according to the consultant. I will share just a few highlights below:

Question 6, How much do you agree or disagree with statements about FUTURE GROWTH AND PRESERVATION in Weston.

The greatest agreement was offered for “controlling Village property taxes”, with 93% somewhat or strongly
agreeing. Greatest disagreement was to the statement that “Weston should try to limit new development, even if it means higher property taxes”

Question 8: Please indicate your LEVEL OF SATISFACTION with how the Village and partner agencies are delivering these same services today

The greatest level of satisfaction was with trash collection and the least level of satisfaction was with the planning, zoning, inspections, and code enforcement services.

Question 9: If you answered that you were “very dissatisfied” or “somewhat dissatisfied” with one or more of the services listed in the previous question, please remind us which one(s) you answered that way, and explain why:

*Road maintenance and repairs: Respondents repeatedly referenced potholes, other pavement conditions, resurfacing needs, traffic safety, and plowing concerns.

*Code enforcement and property maintenance: Several respondents suggested that enforcement was inconsistent or insufficient, including for yards and other property conditions.

*Taxes, spending, and governance: Some respondents connected dissatisfaction to perceived high taxes, spending priorities, transparency challenges, and low responsiveness to resident concerns.

*Parks, recreation, and events: Some respondents asked for better park maintenance, more recreational amenities, and more community events.

*Trash, recycling, and yard waste: Comments included concerns about recycling costs, garbage service transitions, yard waste timing, bulk pickup, and composting.

Item 9 on the Agenda directed the bodies to identify their top preliminary priorities. Four of the commissioners and or Trustees, stated TID (Tax Incremental Financing Districts) were top of list.

TIF 1 is not even closed yet and there is already great interest to open another one. Other members mentioned their highest priorities were installing an interchange at Ryan Street and Highway 29, and encouraging development/redevelopment of vacant parcels.

What would your priorities be? Comment Below

05/28/2026

The fastest records request fulfillment since 1996 in Weston was delivered today. Yes, one business day. I didn't even have to hire an attorney to get the request or anything... not this time at least.

Anyways, the invoices I requested, for Kennedy Park were provided. I added them up and came up with the same $1,725,243.32 number as stated in the parks meeting. But not a single invoice for the construction of the second field was anywhere to be found. Just simply the following note "costs paid by friends- no invoices"

Somehow the total to build field two was precisely $500,000? Not a single one of the other invoices from the engineering or construction firms who have been working on the project were round numbers. Most all of them weren't whole dollar amounts. They were down to the penny.

It's starting to look like Kennedy Park needs to be renamed "Pinocchio Park" 🤥.

A full audit of this project needs to be completed. The math just isn't mathing. This park was supposed to be built with funds donated and not with tax payer money. That was the purpose of creating a third party entity to fundraise.

The invoices provided in my records request show that park improvements have ONLY been built with tax payer money.

There was a generous donation to the "Friends of Kennedy Park" for $500,000 from the Rajek family to construct field 2. But no actual invoice was available to show that's where the donated money went. The "Friends" group does not regularly present financials to the Board of Trustees nor the Parks Committee. They're absent at many of the meetings and the reports they do provide lack detail and specifics.

All that can be proven is that $1,725,243.32 was spent and $1,688,446.60 was borrowed for the project. The remaining $36,796.72 was funded via room tax.

I'm hoping we can get some more information on how we got here. I'll be sure to share what I learn

Pinsonneault for Village of Weston President

08/25/2026

07/27/2026

07/24/2026

06/26/2026

06/25/2026

06/24/2026

06/22/2026

06/17/2026

06/02/2026

05/28/2026

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