County supervisor faces rare challenger

It’s not that Don Dohrwardt has never faced an election opponent in his 20 years as an Ozaukee County supervisor, it’s just that he’s not sure how many there have been.
“This is the third time,” he said.
After a pause, he reconsidered and said, “Maybe the fourth time. The only one I remember is when I ran against (former supervisor) Rose Haas Leider. I won by five votes.”
Dohrwardt has another opponent this time on the Tuesday, April 7, ballot with Village of Fredonia Trustee Joshua Haas seeking to unseat him.
Haas said he’s running against Dohrwardt to improve communication between the county, village and town governments and that it’s “time for a change.”
“I feel we’re not getting a lot of communication from the county level,” he said. “I love the village and the town and want to be that person who is more transparent and bring some of my business experience to the county level.”
Haas, who was elected to the Village Board in 2018, is chairman of the village’s Economic Development Committee and said he wants to apply what he has learned on that front to the county level.
“I want to make sure we work with the farmers and make sure we work with developers,” Haas said.
He said he and Dohrwardt don’t differ much in their philosophy, saying both are fiscally conservative.
While saying Dohrwardt should be thanked for his years in local government, “I think it’s time for a change and some new energy and some new ideas,” Haas said. “I think some constituents are looking for something different.”
Dohrwardt called Haas’ candidacy “kind of a surprise. It seemed like he could use a little more experience before stepping to the next level.”
As a county supervisor, Dohrwardt is a vice chairman of the county Finance Committee and a member of the Monarch Library Board, which oversees all the Ozaukee County libraries plus the bookmobile that stops in Fredonia.
“One of the things I’m most worried about is the county not having any knowledgeable membership on the library board,” he said, noting that he has been a member for 15 years.
“I’m the only one who has even a small amount of knowledge on the library. That’s important because the nonlibraried area residents depend heavily on the bookmobile.”
Dohrwardt, who is the longest-tenured supervisor on the County Board along with Rick Nelson of Port Washington and Tom Richart of Grafton, said he has served on every county committee. “I have a pretty in-depth knowledge of how most of the (county) departments work,” he said.
Dohrwardt said the learning curve can be steep for town, village and city officials who get elected to the County Board.
“When you jump to the next level on the County Board you are mostly serving with seasoned professionals, and in order to have a decent shot at your ideas competing with others, you have to know what you re talking about,” he said.
“It’s different in that the county is an arm of the state. A village has home rule. The county actually does what the state tells it to do.”
Among county accomplishments that he has contributed to, Dohrwardt noted the merger of the Washington and Ozaukee County health departments and the ongoing work to improve county taxi service by merging that with Washington County’s.
Dohrwardt said being on the Village Board helps in communicating county business with village trustees and that he maintains communication with town officials.
“I get very few complaints from constituents,” he said.
“I don’t think this is a time to upset the apple cart.”
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Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.
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