LOCAL NEWS
Evan J. Pretzer
County, Kronenwetter concerns connect at candidate’s forum Candidates for Kronenwetter Village Board and nearby Marathon County positions made their cases March 29. At the village’s municipal center all but Joel Straub came together to take on questions from residents. Chris Voll, Rick Seefeldt, Randy Fifrick and Dave Baker were there for the county seats while Jordyn Wadle-Leff, Timothy Shaw, Jason Holmes, Ken Charneski, Tami Bloch and Danielle Bergmann talked about how they’d serve Kronenwetter if selected as board trustees. The first question was to this second bunch on how to increase business in Kronenwetter. Charneski said he would like to see the village be more accommodating than it may be now. “I’ve heard of some issues where people expressing interest have not exactly been as welcomed as they should,” he said. “We should be developing incentives, tax breaks, things like these.” For Bloch, though she did not have a plan, she questioned whether the community had incentives and whether they were making them as known to interested
businesses as they really could be. “Maybe they are not advertising them enough,” Bloch said. “Maybe people like Ken said are not being welcomed with open arms to bring businesses here. Those would be things I’d look into.” Later the conversation turned towards how the Marathon County Board operates and recent initiatives like the “Community for All” resolution from 2021. The question asked to the candidates wanted to know if they would avoid social issues if elected. All said they would. “This is one of the reasons why I am running,” Baker said. “We are trying to recruit candidates focused on economics and fiscal responsibility. We are trying to change the board so it is more fiscally motivated, not politically. None of the Kronenwetter candidates are involved in this.” Fifrick said this was part of a change he had seen during his recent time on the board and hoped for a return to non-partisan activity. He did note though the issue caught a lot of attention, the board still looked at other issues during this time and could still look at similar resolutions later. “I have seen a change,” he said. “I think
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March 31-April 7, 2022
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Candidates for Kronenwetter Village Board and for county board seats representing Kronenwetter spoke at a candidate forum Tuesday. (Evan Pretzer)
it is important that in my time there were some political discussions but I am here to tell you the rest of the year we were talking about road improvements and services. There is the opportunity for discussions like that in committees.” Another person raised the issue of staffing in Kronenwetter’s offices. The Village has had a lot of turnover in two years with more than five quitting. Wadle-Leff said this has been caused by the current board and said officials were holding the area back and costing it competence. “In conversations with multiple of those individuals the majority of those we have lost have been due to our current board,” she said. “It’s very frustrating when you can’t rely on your leadership and you cannot count on them to move the village forward. We’ve lost a lot of good talent.” Shaw expressed similar opinion. He said he did not know what was going on internally and could not guess, but did note the employment market is intense now and called for exit interviews, which he has heard has not been a thing instituted by administration as of filing. “I think that is absurd,” Shaw said. “You should look at these people, talk to them as they go and figure out what is going on. That would be a great benefit. This is obviously a great concern.” After this conversation turned back to County. The audience wanted to know what the group’s thoughts were on the expansion of the area’s broadband and Voll said this had his backing. “I am not on the particular committee, but I will do the best I can to keep pushing
it for the village,” he said. “We have had a tower here I think it was 18 months ago it went up. In our particular District 23 there are certainly some areas where there’s room for more.” Seefeldt said this was something he would also support and noted his broadband was good for the most part and hinted the county was close to finally being fully wired, if all goes well. “I am hoping with the providers we work with we can get internet through the whole county.” One final question for the evening was on diversity and inclusion for the trustee hopefuls. They were asked about a “Community for All” resolution and for Holmes, Kronenwetter is already a welcoming place and social issues are the kind of thing local boards should work to avoid. “A lot of young families are coming in,” Holmes said. “I view it as a social issue. I think we are non-partisan and should stick to what we are doing. I believe we are welcoming as we are.” Bergmann expressed a similar view. She noted the community is already fairly welcoming but, as a new candidate, she would have to research the issue more before she could give an answer. “There are pros and cons to everything, you have to kind of research to know more,” she said. “I would have to get more details on the pros and cons to really be able to dig into that question.” Evan J. Pretzer is a contributor to City Pages. He can be reached at evan.pretzer@ protonmail.com.
