Hearing for Skillestad’s appeal set for mid-June

An appeal hearing before the Minnesota Department of Administration for Blooming Prairie Police Chief Greg Skillestad is scheduled June 17-19 in Blooming Prairie.
Skillestad is appealing an evaluation, written reprimand and a performance improvement plan directed at him by City Administrator Andrew Langholz.
Chief Skillestad appealed the performance review to the Blooming Prairie City Council, and after a closed meeting on Sept. 14, the council voted to uphold the performance review, which reflected negatively on Skillestad.
The appeal was filed on behalf of Skillestad by civil rights attorney Richard Wylie of Minneapolis according to Minnesota Statutes Section 13.04, Subd. 4. The appeal basically says if a person thinks the public record on him/her is inaccurate or incomplete, a remedy exists with an appeal to the state.
Wylie and Langholz both said the appeal hearing before the Department of Administration will be held at the Blooming Prairie Government Center in the council room.
A backlog of cases before the state, partially because of COVID-19, has caused the lengthy delay in hearing the Skillestad appeal. "We are operating on the schedule set by the Department of Administration and have no control over it," Wylie said.
Asked if the relationship between Langholz and Skillestad has improved, Wylie said his information is attorney-client privileged.
Also asked if his client's intent was to have the evaluation and reprimand and performance improvement plan removed from his record, Wylie said that, too, was attorney-client privileged.
Wylie did acknowledge that resolution of the matter could be done by mediation. He said the Department of Administration may attempt mediation of the dispute.
If a settlement cannot be achieved, Skillestad can ask for the Department of Administration to provide an administrator sometimes called an administrative judge to conduct a hearing and decide if the information at issue is correct, incorrect, complete or incomplete.
In an Oct. 14, 2020 interview, Wylie said, "Chief Skillestad feels he is generally respected and liked in the community, and he took this criticism professionally and personally."