Village president to move on after busy tenure

Gehrke, who led Fredonia through start of industrial park project, joint fire department agreement, won’t seek re-election
By 
MICHAEL BABCOCK
Ozaukee Press Staff

Fredonia Village President Dan Gehrke announced last week he will not seek reelection in April to focus on his family and home building and real estate businesses.

He has served on the Village Board since 2019 and as president since 2022 — a short but eventful time for the village, Gehrke said.

During his tenure on the board, the village hired its first administrator, started the Southern Industrial Park project, brokered a multi-community paramedic program and most recently raised funds for a splash pad to be installed next year.

“We have some momentum as a community,” Gehrke said, noting that another major decision for the village is coming up with renovations to the wastewater treatment plant.

He said he’s most proud of helping to get “the community feel back” with village-sponsored events like Mudonia and Fun on the Fourth.

“We’ve taken a step forward there,” Gehrke said.

Gehrke has been on the Parks and Recreation Committee since 2021.

Pulling off the village’s 150th celebration in July, which featured a parade, several bands and a stop by Congressman Glenn Grothman and State Sen. Dan Feyen, was a particular achievement, Gehrke said.

“Thinking back, it was crazy. We were three people and we put together an event with multiple sponsors.”

He said Trustee Tiffany Bartz has been pivotal to organizing community events and the creation last year of the Friends of Fredonia Parks and Recreation, an organization to get volunteers and raise money for village events.

It’s very different from when Gehrke started.

“I remember one member saying to me, ‘We have all these things we could do but are waiting for someone to get it started,’” he said. “And I thought that was the wrong approach. You have to be out knocking on doors.”

Gehrke said he is also proud of the splash pad project at Marie Kraus park that will break ground early next year. The project was funded by community donations and American Rescue Plan Act funds.

“I am hoping to get invited to the grand opening of that,” he said.

Gehrke said he’d been debating with himself about running again for the last few months. He considered his growing commitments with his three children and home building and realty businesses that will likely double in work next year against the progress he’d been a part of in the village.

“It’s a really hard decision,” he said. “I really wanted to keep going.”.

Ultimately, Gehrke thought back over the last five years. Most of the things he’d wanted to happen had come through including the creation of the paramedic program and the Southern Industrial Park.

But, he said, there was still one thing. He thinks the village needs more homes.

“But at the same time I build houses for a living,” he said. “So I thought maybe to accomplish that I should just do it through my businesses and avoid any conflicts of interest.”

Gehrke said there has been some recent residential growth and will be more in the future, but demand is high.

“We got some condos that are hopefully going up,” he said. “I get calls all the time from people looking for homes here. I tell them, ‘There aren’t, but wait.’”

The feeling Gehrke has about Fredonia’s current position reminds him of growing up in Mequon, he said, when that community was what he called an “up-and-coming community.”

“For so long Fredonia has been overlooked and there is no reason it should be. This community is filled with great people,” he said.

Gehrke said growth in the community is moderated by the village’s guiding principles: smart growth, responsible spending, support for infrastructure, open communication and development of a sense of community.

“We are not looking for some developer to put up 500 homes that all look the same,” he said.

Gehrke said he is excited to have new blood on the Village Board.

“I wasn’t here to be here 20 or 30 years,” he said.

So far, only Peter Lenz has filed to run for the presidency. Lenz serves on the village Board of Appeals.

Trustees Bartz and Kurt Meyle Sr. are not running for reelection. Tuesday, Jan. 7, is the deadline to submit papers.

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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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