By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

At the June 21 Common Council meeting a “resignation agreement, waiver and release between: city of Whitewater and Aaron Raap” was unanimously ratified. Although no details of the agreement were provided prior to the vote, which occurred after a relatively brief closed session, a copy of the document was provided to the Banner. Raap agrees to resign and retire on June 30, 2022, and shall submit a binding and irrevocable resignation letter to the City’s Fire and Police Commission (PFC) by noon on that date. Per state statute, the PFC is the body with the authority to hire, discipline and terminate police personnel. In addition to being paid his accrued vacation, the city agrees to continue to pay Raap his regular wage until December 31, 2022. His pay rate will be adjusted effective January 1, 2022 by 2.25%, the same rate of increase that was provided for city employees in the 2022 budget, and he will receive a medical insurance stipend of $400 per month. Raap is to be provided with a Whitewater Police Department identification card, noting his highest achieved rank (Chief of Police) and noting his status as retired. He is also to be provided his class A uniform, cap, and accompanying shield.

Raap releases the city from any claims, damages, demands, and the like. It is stated that, “The parties’ participation in this Agreement is not to be construed as an admission of any wrongdoing or liability whatsoever by or on behalf of Employee, the City, or the Released Parties. For ACAIDAS purposes, Employee shall be classified as resigned prior to completion of an internal investigation, and for HR 218 purposes resigned in good standing as he has not been terminated.”

“Internal investigation” is presumably a reference to the outside investigation that commenced after Raap was placed on paid administrative leave on or about December 3, 2021 “based on an incident that occurred outside the city of Whitewater.” Raap was taken into custody by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department for alleged battery-domestic abuse on November 24, 2021 from his Town of Ottawa home. The Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office announced on December 15 that it had declined to issue criminal charges “due to a lack of evidence to establish that Mr. Raap intended to inflict bodily harm on anyone.” The city has not indicated whether the internal investigation has been completed. Deputy Chief Dan Meyer has served as acting police chief since December.

Raap began employment as police chief on June 1, 2018, succeeding Lisa Otterbacher. He had left the Milwaukee Police Department in 2016 after 26 years of service, ultimately with the title of captain.