Chairman resigns, former supervisor named successor in Spring Prairie
By Jason Arndt
Editor
The Spring Prairie Town Board appointed former supervisor Thomas C. Bolfert as its new chairman following a special board meeting Tuesday.
Bolfert, who served as supervisor from 2011 until he lost in last April’s election, replaces Don Henningfeld.
Henningfeld abruptly stepped down from the chairman position at a July 8 regular board meeting amid rising tensions in the township related to a proposed gravel pit.
Town Supervisor Donald Trimberger, who was one of three nominees for the post, said Henningfeld’s abrupt resignation left him stunned.
“It was a surprise that he resigned like that, I didn’t know anything about it,” said Trimberger.
As for his successor, Bolfert, the appointment came after the first two nominations lacked a second to the motion by the two sitting supervisors and Town Clerk-Treasurer Debbie Collins.
Stunning resignation
Like Trimberger, Collins expressed shock about Henningfeld’s resignation, which was tendered on July 8.
Collins, paraphrasing the former town chairman, indicated Henningfeld said the gravel pit matter “has gotten out of hand.”
Shortly after, he simply told the Town Board, “I resign,” and left the meeting room and Town Hall.
“To say everyone was stunned, including myself and the other board members, would be a fitting statement,” Collins said.
Henningfeld, first elected town chairman in 2011, said in a telephone interview Monday he resigned after residents showed fierce resistance to the proposed gravel pit.
“People just don’t want to listen. I just had enough of it,” said Henningfeld, who said the Town Board has deliberated on the matter just once.
“We haven’t even started yet.”
Residents who opposed the gravel pit learned about the proposal by Robert Kordus, president of Union Grove-based Asphalt Contractors, Inc., at two informational meetings not endorsed by the Town of Spring Prairie a week before the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission was set to consider the matter.
At the June 27 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, which was the first time the matter went before the township for consideration, many residents still voiced strong opposition even after it was postponed because of paperwork and county ordinance issues.
Some residents accused Henningfeld of supporting the proposed gravel pit, but he said on Monday comments made to another news outlet were taken out of context.
He said he did not explicitly state he favored the proposal.
“We were not going behind anyone’s back. We have barely had any meetings on it,” Henningfeld said. “I wasn’t for or against it. I didn’t say I approved of it.”
In addition, he said, municipalities face limitations restricting conditional use permits, because of legislation passed in 2017.
Henningfeld said residents have to understand processes like the kind needed to consider the proposed gravel pit take time and must clear many hurdles before contractors can begin digging in.
In addition, he said, because of some issues with this particular request it could take anywhere between three to six months before a final resolution is reached.
To read the full story – including a sidebar on the timing of the pending gravel pit decision – see the July 18 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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