Haas enjoys big wins at polls, home

Fredonia Village Trustee Joshua Haas emerged as a triple winner over the last few days, prevailing in two races in the spring election after ballots were tallied on Monday.

His third win was the birth of his first child, daughter Leah Marie, to him and his wife Leah on Saturday.

“She’s really something, and we’re very proud,” Haas said Tuesday.

Haas was unopposed in his re-election bid for the Village Board but also handily defeated 2nd District County Supr. Don Dohrwardt, who has been a member of the Ozaukee County Board for 20 years and also is village president.

Haas outpolled Dohrwardt, 602 to 347 votes, or 63% to 37%.

Haas said he was “shocked” by the margin of victory.

“It was nice to see the support we had. I commend Don for the job he’s done, but I think people were ready for some new blood,” he said.

Haas, 32, owns a garage-door installation company, Door Professionals, and moved to Fredonia in 2017. He was elected to the Village Board in 2018 and is chairman of the village Economic Development Committee.

“I think people like what they’ve seen us do (on the committee) and like the direction we’re going and want us to bring some of that same energy to the county,” he said.

Dohrwardt said he wished Haas luck in his new role.

“Maybe people figured it’s just time” for him to step down from the County Board, Dohrwardt said Tuesday in explaining his loss. “I’ve often said it’s time for the next generation to start running their own sandbox. This is what it looks like.”

Dohrwardt’s defeat was only the second in his political career, which started in 1996 when he was elected to the Village Board.

His previous defeat was when he lost in a bid for village president in 2001, but he was re-elected to the Village Board the next year as a write-in candidate.

Dohrwardt said the thing he’ll miss the most regarding his time on the County Board is serving on the Monarch Library System’s Board of Directors, which oversees libraries in Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Washington and other counties.

“I’ve been involved with it for a long time,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of work for the next person” who takes his place.

Dohrwardt said he had already spoken with County Board Chairman Lee Schlenvogt about being appointed as a citizen member to the board if an opening becomes available.

“I would gladly serve there,” he said.

In-person voting occurred Tuesday, April 7, but a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed absentee ballots in Wisconsin to be counted on Monday as long as they were received or postmarked by April 7.

On April 7, a total of 677 ballots were cast, including about 400 absentee ballots that were returned from 463 mailed out, Village Clerk Sandi Tretow said.

After Monday’s tabulation, the total number of ballots reached 681, meaning just four more were received in the six intervening days.

The total represented 49.7% of the village’s registered voter list of 1,369.

Haas garnered 459 votes while Richard Abegglen collected 333. 

The third open trustee seat on the ballot belonged to Jill Bertram, who opted to not run for re-election. Even so, she got nine write-in votes of the 28 cast, making her the top write-in candidate.

By law, the Village Board will offer Bertram her post back. If she turns it down, the board can appoint someone to the seat.

Bertram could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The same situation exists in the Northern Ozaukee School Board’s at-large seat, which had no registered candidates. The top write-in vote-getter had not been identified by press time.

School Board incumbents re-elected were Jennifer Clark, representing the Village of Fredonia; Brent Neis, representing the Town of Saukville; and Kevin Klas and Suzanne Miller, both representing the Town of Fredonia.

All four were unopposed.

In the Town of Fredonia, incumbent Jim  Stemper and newcomer John Depies were elected to the Town Board.

In the Random Lake School Board race for two seats that represent the towns of Fredonia and Belgium, Renie Rathke had 1,037 votes and Charles Mueller had 834 votes, defeating Elizabeth Kocher and Laura Meyer, who had 628 and 501 votes, respectively.