Onalaska mayor wants critics of municipal judge to speak out in public forum

The future of Onalaska’s municipal judge will be a hot topic at the March meeting of the Onalaska city council, if Mayor Joe Chilsen has his way.

Some council members have called for Judge John Brinckman to be recalled or to resign, because of complaints about how he has run the municipal court.

Mayor Chilsen wants Brinckman and his critics to speak about the situation, in public.

“I’ve invited him to the next council meeting because I want to get this all out in the open,” Chilsen said. “I want to hear from the judge and the council members, exactly what kind of action they want to take.”

Those critics claim the municipal court, under Brinckman, is disorganized, citing large amounts of tickets that have not been processed by the court.

Brinckman hears municipal cases for several communities, including Holmen, West Salem and the town of Campbell.

Chilsen has not personally called for Brinckman to resign. He told WIZM he was recently misquoted as saying he supports calls by city council members for Brinckman to step down.

Chilsen said he was commenting on a possible council vote of ‘no confidence’ in Brinckman.

“If that comes to happen, I’m certainly not going to stand in the way of it but I personally not going to say that the judge outta resign,” Chilsen said.

Brinckman has been quoted as objecting to council members calling for his resignation before he’s had a chance to speak with them.