GREENWOOD TWP- In a terse six-word sentence, Greenwood Clerk Debby Spicer resigned, in writing, from her position, effective May 31.
She left a simple signed note which stated “I quit,” in large type, along with a note saying where she had left township keys.
The town board is expected to act on the issue at their meeting on June 14. When the elected treasurer Belinda Fazio resigned in April, the board appointed Jeff Maus to fill the spot until the next township election.
This is the second time this spring the clerk told the board she was resigning, but back in March when she left the town board’s reorganization meeting after the board refused to increase the clerk’s pay, she rescinded her notice and resumed her duties. But she then clashed with town board members at their May meeting, refused to produce minutes, and again left the meeting midway, claiming “If I get paid for those extra hours, you get the minutes.”
The Greenwood Town Board, since 2020, has clashed with their clerk. In the summer of 2020, the board unilaterally reduced the pay for elected clerk Sue Drobac and cut back the town clerk office hours from 20 to 12 hours a week. The board also reduced the treasurer’s salary, but left supervisor salaries the same. At that time Drobac claimed she was unable to complete the required clerk duties in that timeframe.
When Drobac left, the board hired Spicer that fall as interim clerk, at an hourly rate of about $27 per hour. Spicer ran for the seat in 2021 to fill the remainder of Drobac’s term, knowing that the board had reduced the hours and salary for the position. That term ended in 2022, and she once again ran and was re-elected over write-in candidate JoAnn Bassing. She told the board that prior verbal communication with then-Chair Mike Ralston and Supervisor Carmen DeLuca had assured her she would be paid for any excess hours she worked.
“I spoke to Mike immediately after the meeting,” wrote Spicer in a document she submitted to the Timberjay. “He stated, with Supervisor DeLuca present, that it would be taken care of in the March meeting – but it went unmentioned, as with the April meeting. Both Ralston and DeLuca later claimed they ‘don’t remember’ those conversations – WOW!”
She also wrote that “During the 2021 election period (which actually began in December 2020), I worked 58+ extra hours I have not been paid for. I was told I was salary and was to work until the job was done. I have also been denied the extra hours submitted covering the 2022 election period and there are two more elections this year and rolls right into the 2023 March election.”
Spicer also claimed that it was not within the clerk’s statutory duties to take minutes at the monthly township meetings or to even attend them, after she consulted with Minnesota Association of Township’s (MAT) attorney Steve Fenske. While state statute clearly states the clerk take minutes/record the proceedings of town meetings, she said that only applies to the annual town meeting, not board of supervisor meetings.
This contradicts information in a flyer produced by MAT on how to run for township office, which clearly states:
“What are the duties of a town clerk? A town clerk performs a variety of duties for the township, including: keeping meeting minutes; providing notice of meetings, filing and preserving the town’s records, and serving as the chief election office for the town. The primary duties of the clerk are listed in Minn. Stat. 367.11, but there are many other references to clerk’s duties spread through the statutes, and the clerk frequently performs other tasks needed for the town to function effectively and efficiently.”