BREAKING: Kronenwetter's administrator Peter Kampfer resigned today
The resignation came following a conflict with the village's fire chief, leaving the village once again without an administrator.
Peter Kampfer at the meeting in which he was hired said while he had been a track athlete, he didn’t plan on running that evening. That despite the nearly three-hour meeting he sat through which grew contentious at several points.
Kampfer must have kept the running shoes on. According to an email posted online, and confirmed by at least one member of the village board, Kampfer resigned Friday afternoon.
According to the letter of resignation sent to the village board and carbon copying clerk Bobbi Jo Birk-LaBarge, Kampfer cited a conflict with Kronenwetter Fire Chief Theresa O’Brien. That conflict appeared to be over the village’s ambulance service and, Kampfer alleges, a threat by O’Brien to resign, “a move that could potentially lead to the resignation of half of our village volunteer fire staff,” Kampfer writes in the email.
Kampfer says other than that, he thought village staff was “willing and helpful.” But, Kampfer wrote, he doesn’t feel he can continue in the position.
Former Marathon County Board Supervisor David Baker posted the entire resignation letter on his blog. Because The Wausonian came across the news Friday night, this publication was not able to reach out to O’Brien for comment.
The resignation comes a little more than two months after Kampfer was hired in the village - the same month several village employees spoke out against some village board members and their behavior.
"I'm about to become your tornado"
Peter Kampfer waited for roughly three hours before being named the village’s next administrator, replacing the departing Leonard Ludi. Kampfer joked about being a track athlete, and that he’d had plenty of time to change his mind and book it out of there.
Prior to that, the village hired its Public Works Director Leonard Ludi for the administrator role, who lasted only a few months. Before that, the village hadn’t had a permanent administrator since Richard Downey left in 2022.
The Wausonian will dive deeper into this issue next week.
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