Reviews for Kap's Siding & Construction

A dispute over a glass sliding door installation that was never performed has led to charges against a contractor who also serves as an appointed official on three city boards.

Pete Strysick, owner of Kaps Siding and Construction, was charged in April with theft by a contractor, a misdemeanor charge that carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine. The Sheboygan Press was alerted to the charges after a community member called in noting Strysick’s city appointments.

Strysick serves on the city’s Architectural Review Board, the Board of Contractors Examiners and is chairman of the Board of Zoning Appeals.

According to the criminal complaint, Strysick was contracted by Mark and Megan Medinger in April 2014 to have a sliding glass door installed after Strysick’s company was recommended by Megan’s parents. As part of the deal, they paid Strysick a $2,500 deposit on the door with the understanding another $1,000 would be paid upon completion of the job. While they received an invoice for separate work done to their house in April, they texted back and forth with Strysick about the job, but said contact suddenly stopped around November.

That prompted them to send Strysick a letter by certified mail Nov. 24 asking him either to finish the work or return the $2,500 deposit.

Strysick responded Dec. 10 in a letter saying the project had been delayed for numerous reasons, including a shift in “demand for ongoing projects.” He also said the door had been “shipped wrong” three separate times.

While he indicated he still wanted to finish the project, further requests to do so went unanswered, and the family still had not been repaid as of April . That prompted a police officer to contact Strysick, who said he thought the door had been delivered, but added a lot of “personal” issues led to the distraction and delay.

Strysick, told a Press reporter Thursday he had certainly taken too long to meet the demands of the customer, but said he believed he had finally worked out a way to repay the Medingers.

Strysick noted that after the initial charges were filed, he sent a letter to the family laying out a repayment plan and asked them to return it signed. But he said that never happened and the letter was not sent via certified mail. So, when he came before a judge on the charges, he pleaded not guilty and was still forced to post a $500 bond and get his mugshot taken.

Strysick said the dispute was an honest mistake and that he has a good reputation in the community. A check of Circuit Court records showed a handful of small claims civil suits and a 1999 disorderly conduct citation, but nothing in the last decade.

Strysick blamed the dispute with the Medingers on a confluence of other factors — such as a series of estimates of other projects coming in at almost the exact same time — that pushed work back. He also noted he had gone through a divorce and the time was trying on him.

“I had never had this happen to me before,” Strysick said.

Mayor Mike Vandersteen appointed Strysick to the Architectural Review Board and Board of Contractor’s Examiners in 2014 for a three-year term and an appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals in 2013.

As a result of the recent charge, Strysick said he offered his resignation to Vandersteen for those boards but Vandersteen told him that wasn’t necessary.

Vandersteen said he wouldn’t consider asking someone charged with a crime of this nature for their resignation until there’s a final decision in a case, noting a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. He said that in some extreme cases, such as that with former Ald. Kevin MatiChek, they may do so, but indicated that Strysick was appointed to his committees because of his track record on other city committees and expertise in those areas.

“When you have someone who does a good job, you tend to reappoint them or give them other opportunities to serve,” Vandersteen said.

Vandersteen also said that while he does occasionally interview people