Biography

Jim’s experience as an in house City Attorney and as the City County Human Resources Director for Green Bay and Brown County has evolved into a practice concentrating in two areas: employment and municipal law.

Jim served as former Chair of the firm’s Labor & Employment Team offering over 40 years of experience assisting clients in collective bargaining issues and employment law matters. Jim’s background as an HR director gives him unique, practical insight in personnel issues from drafting policies to conducting investigations to reorganization studies and strategies. He has considerable experience successfully representing public and private sector employers in employment discrimination and wage matters.

In his municipal practice, Jim serves as general counsel to several towns, cities, counties and school districts. In addition, he advises municipalities, on an outside counsel basis, on a broad variety of Municipal Law issues including planning and redevelopment, public records and open meetings and zoning appeals matters, and serving as an independent hearing officer and special prosecutor. He also advises private developers with zoning, permitting and negotiating development agreements.

Representative Clients

• Municipalities
• Counties
• School Districts
• Developers

Notable Representations

Organized and assembled HR department for Green Bay and Brown County In 1996-2002, Jim organized and assembled County Human Resource Department of Green Bay and Brown County. He drafted all documents needed for the consolidation including the intergovernmental agreements creating the department and oversight commission. He managed the department as its director for five years. During that time, he negotiated three rounds with 34 bargaining units, accomplishing the initiation of insurance contributions by all units, implemented a new classification and compensation study for the county; and, helped to consolidate the city and county dispatch departments into one department.

Redevelopment Counsel Jim represented the City of DePere in the development of the DePere Business Park ,the Village of Hobart in the Centennial Centre Development and the Village of Suamico, in the Lineville Corridor Development and the Town of Lawrence negotiating and drafting the necessary TIF and other development agreements for those projects. He currently represents Sturgeon Bay, Egg Harbor and the Town of Lawrence as general counsel continuing to provide development and redevelopment services.

Digester Project Jim represents the Town of Wrightstown in regard to the conditional use for the construction and operation of a covered anaerobic system, constituting a communal digester system processing cow manure, from neighboring and area farms, treating the waste water and converting the manure into natural gas, a soil amendment product and a liquid fertilizer product. The partially State funded project, when completed, will treat approximately 800,000 gallons of manure per day, resulting in approximately 400,000 gallons of effluent that will involve the conveyance of materials and products to and from the communal digester from offsite and the return of effulent in some cases. The project has received all state permits and the commencement of construction is contemplated for April, 2021.

Appeal of denial of permit for extraction site Jim has worked with a realty development company on the denial of a permit for a non-metallic mineral extraction site. Jim was retained after the Plan Committee denied the permit. The denial was appealed to the Board of Adjustment who remanded the matter. Before the remand was heard, the development company was able to reapply and gained a unanimous approval of the application.

Leadership

Professional Activities

Member, Brown County Bar

Member, Wisconsin Public Employer Labor Relations Association (WPELRA)

Former Board of Directors, H C Miller

Former Board Member, WSAA

Local Government and Administrative Law Section of Wisconsin Bar

Community Involvement

Member, Society for Human Resource Management

Former Board Member, City of De Pere Planning Commission

Former Board Member, Jackie Nitschke Center, Inc. Advisory Board

Former Board Member, Committee Advisory Council, Golden House, Inc.

Former Board Member, Bay Area Humane Society, Inc.

Past President, Rotary Club of Green Bay