Trustee calls out officials for rejecting businessman’s sign request

The Saukville Plan Commission approved an LED sign last month for Mill Street Kitchen and Bath after rejecting it only a week earlier.

The controversial decision to reject the sign was nearly unanimous except for Trustee Scott Fischer, who called for the entire commission to resign because of their vote, including Trustee Jim Nowlen and Village President Andy Hebein.

Village Attorney Brad Hoeft wrote in a memo to the commission that during the first meeting “some interaction occurred with the applicant” as to the “content” of the sign before it was rejected.

Since the Village’s sign ordinances are “content-neutral,” Hoeft advised that a special meeting was “warranted to rescind the prior action.”

Because of the failure to approve the sign, Fischer alleged the commission violated the applicant’s First Amendment right.

“There’s an oath of office and they failed,” he said.

The applicant, Charles Pressley, writes messages like “Make Your Kitchen Great Again” or “God Made Two Genders” on a sign currently displayed at his business, Mill Street Kitchen and Bath, at 103 S. Mill St.

“If (the sign) was aimed at the other side, it would have been approved,” Fischer said.

The issue with approving the sign began when Pressley brought up complaints with his previous sign, Hebein said. That,  he said, caused commission members to ask questions about how the proposed sign would be used.

“Folks were answering questions with questions,” he said, adding that the discussion was always general.

Eventually, the committee voted against the sign after reaching an impasse, Hebein said.

While he refused to comment on his reason for initially voting against the sign, Nowlen said the meeting “became a session of emotion rather than facts and awareness.”

At that same meeting, Fischer voted against a sign request from Smoke World Vape.

“If Fischer is so angry, why did he vote against the other sign request from a different business at that meeting?” Hebein asked.

Fischer said he opposed the Smoke World Vape sign because he “was not a fan” of the business moving into Saukville, not because of the sign’s content.

Nowlen said the issue has been blown out of proportion and has already been corrected.

“We are human and those things happen,” he said. “I am not going to go back and relitigate.”

Fischer made the motion to rescind the rejection at the Feb. 14 meeting, which Nowlen seconded.