Fredonia board race features familiar faces

Four people are running for three seats on the Fredonia Village Board in the April 7 general election.

Incumbents Richard Abegglen and Jessica Franck are running, along with Plan Commission member Anne Redmond and former trustee Rudy McCormick.

Incumbent Natalie Eippert did not seek re-election.

Abegglen, Franck and Redmond gave their feedback at a candidate forum on March 7. McCormick was interviewed by Ozaukee Press.

Abegglen, 50, is a certification and regulatory engineer who has a bachelor of administration degree from Lakeland College. He has lived in the village for 12 years. He is married with four children, one adult and three at home.

Abegglen has been on the board for eight years.

“What I bring to the table is the ability to evaluate different positions with different perspectives with integrity and a solid sense of service to the community,” he said.

 Franck, 51, is a construction project manager who has a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology from Bemidji State and a master’s degree in management from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. She is married with one child and has lived in the village for 24 years.

She has been on the board for the last two years.

“My goal is to leave the community better than what it started at. I’ve been here for almost half my life. It’s a wonderful place to live and to thrive in,” she said.

Redmond, 58, is a construction project manager who has a bachelor’s degree in management and a master’s degree in construction management from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and a bachelor’s degree in management. She is widowed with two adult sons.

“I want to use construction experience and strong sense of financial responsibility to help our village make smart, thoughtful decisions,” she said.

McCormick, 54, works in sales and marketing for multiple industries and used to own a real estate business. He has bachelor’s and post-bachelor’s degrees in marketing from the University of Illinois. He is widowed with one adult daughter and has lived in the village for 10 years.

“The truth of it is a lot of expenses the village has incurred over the last five, six years were unnecessary, in my opinion,” McCormick said, citing the splash pad cost the village money for accompanying infrastructure and there are too many village staff members.

“We don’t need three full-time employees at the village,” he said.

Growth is one issue three candidates agree on while the fourth has a different perspective.

Redmond said growth is important and “I think we’re on the right path” in reference to working with developers and giving a $5,000 credit on fees to home buyers through the Fredonia First program.

Abegglen said when he first ran for trustee in 2018, two of his initiatives were commercial and residential growth.

“Growth is really important in order to maintain the level of services we offer without having to raise the taxes. We’d rather grow the tax base than grow the taxes. I think growth is essential to this village,” he said.

Franck said growth is a priority of hers as well. She said Fredonia First “is a great first start to encourage people to come and build here.”

McCormick sees it differently.

“A lot of folks that I talk to want to see Fredonia kind of stay where it is. People think the board today is trying to create another Grafton or Cedarburg. Growth for the sake of growth isn’t necessarily the best option,” he said.

He doesn’t support the Fredonia First program.

“Fredonia cannot afford to lose those fees. There’s expenses going along with houses being built. We should not be waiving those at all,” McCormick said.

McCormick said he wants to attract the right kind of people to the village.

“If people want to spend the cost of buying a home and living there, they have to be in alignment with what the village is,” he said. “It  might take longer to sell some lots, but your neighbors will be exactly who you want them to be.”

The village is small with little crime, people know each other and it’s a great place to raise a family, he said.

Abegglen said the splash pad and upgrades to Marie Kraus Park are two amenities that make the village attractive.

“Growth is imperative,” he said.

Franck said the Fredonia First program that directly benefits home buyers will help, along with getting Hillcrest Builders to complete its initial plans.

Redmond cited the splash pad, parks system and a “strong sense of community” that draw people to the village.

“Most importantly to me is we need to make this community desirable so people want to move here,” she said. “In order to encourage growth, people have to want to live here.”

The multi-million-dollar wastewater treatment plant upgrade, partially pushed by the state Department of Natural Resources, has caused sewer rates to balloon and are also a bone of contention.

The upgrade, Franck said, is to a plant built 40 years ago that was designed to last 20 years.

“It’s good we got double the amount of time from that system, but we’ve been bleeding money on repairs,” she said.

The Department of Public Works has to fabricate parts since they aren’t available, “which includes man hours and wasted time,” Franck said.

Abegglen said employees have done a great job maintaining the plant, but it’s “limping along” and the village spent money on a temporary fix for the clarifier a couple of years ago.

“It’s time to put some serious improvements in it,” he said.

Redmond said, “That thing was built when I was in middle school, I believe. It’s old. It needs improvements, especially if we’re going to try to get another 40 to 50 years out of it. Thankfully, it’s not being rebuilt from scratch. It desperately does need updating. Right now, the nickel and dime fixes that have been happening lead to a slow financial death for our community.”

McCormick said he worked with a client who handles wastewater treatment and learned a lot about the systems.

“We’ve chosen to let a lot of our infrastructure fail without regular maintenance. Typically, I understand that it’s better to maintain things than to let them fail and rebuild them from a cost standpoint,” he said.

“I’m concerned over-spending on the Village Board on new infrastructure without any concern for the taxpayer.”