Insurer to Pay $325K in Wisconsin City’s Harassment Suit Settlement

The Wisconsin city of Mondovi will settle a lawsuit filed against its former mayor by a police officer who claimed she was denied a promotion for reporting the mayor’s unwanted advances to her superiors.

The former mayor is now state Rep. Treig Pronschinske and he has denied the officer’s allegations, calling them “baseless.” Pronschinske told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Monday that city officials settled the lawsuit at the behest of their insurance company, which will pay $325,000.

The officer who filed the lawsuit, Bonnie Bertrang, says she resigned from the police department because Pronschinske “publicly degraded and belittled” her and she felt she couldn’t do her job effectively anymore.

The city of Mondovi maintains Bertrang wasn’t promoted because other candidates were more qualified.

The lawsuit was settled last week.