Lesky to retire as Montreal clerk/treasurer

By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

MONTREAL, Wis. -- After 18 years as clerk/treasurer for the city of Montreal, Sue Lesky is planning to retire this spring.

“Working with you and the rest of the staff has been a highly fulfilling experience for me and I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to be with the city of Montreal for the last 18 years,” Lesky wrote in a letter to Mayor Erik Guenard and the city’s common council announcing her decision. “This year has certainly been a challenge and has made me realize it’s time to spend more time with my family.”

“It is with regret that I read (Lesky’s letter) aloud and I want to say ‘Thank you’ to Sue for everything she’s done for the city of Montreal, the city of Gile,” Guenard said after reading her letter during Tuesday’s Montreal council meeting.

In the letter, Lesky tentatively set April 10 as her retirement date and said she wanted to give the city plenty of advanced notice so there was time to train a replacement. She recommended the council consider hiring the city’s current office assistant, Lori Genisot, as the new clerk-treasurer.

The council agreed a closed session should be planned for a future meeting to discuss how to proceed with hiring Lesky’s replacement.

In other action, the council:

--Heard Jeff Seamandel, with the city’s engineering firm, regarding some grant options the city may be able to pursue for water, sewer and street work. The council agreed to send out the necessary income surveys to qualify for Community Development Block Grants through the Wisconsin Department of Administration after Seamandel said only those residents in the project areas would need to fill out the surveys, rather than the entire city. Seamandel estimated roughly 65 residents would need to complete the survey. CDBG funds could cover up to two-thirds of the costs for the work, up to $1 million, according to information presented at the meeting.

--Confirmed approval of the 2021 budget after the council didn’t have a quorum to formally approve it at its November meeting.