Rift over solar array leads to recall vote in town of Morgan

OCONTO FALLS – The schism between the Morgan Town Board and many residents fighting against the possible establishment of large solar power facility in the rural community has widened, as citizens succeeded in getting an election to recall the town chairman and a supervisor before voters this summer.

The election is set for July 12, but if more than two candidates run for either post, that date will be used for a primary. The recall election would then be held Aug. 9, the same day as the Wisconsin partisan primary election.

Town chair Fran Wranosky and supervisor Leonard Wahl will automatically be on the ballot. No one else has officially filed to run, though the deadline to do so is 5 p.m. June 28, according to Clerk Julie Belongia.

Jeff Folts said he’s in the process of gathering signatures and expects to so in the next several days.

Folts said Robert Berg plans to run for chairperson. Berg could not be reached for comment.

Mike Kispert said he and Gloria Heinke circulated the petitions to obtain signatures for the recall.

Kispert said the recall has less to do with the solar project, in which NextEra Resources is evaluating whether to build the array – which would generate 150 megawatts of electricity – near the huge electrical substation in the town.

Instead, Kispert said, the recall is the result of what he and other opponents contend are the board’s conflict of interest and lack of transparency over the project.

Both Wranosky and Wahl are among town residents who have contracts for their land for the array with NextEra, which began negotiating with property owners long before most town residents became aware of the project.

“When the word first got out, a lot of people had no idea what was going on, and this was something that had been in the works for over a year, and it was this energy company going out and talking to small group of people to sign on to this,” Kispert said.

Folts said Wranosky and Wahl should have informed their constituents about the project when they first learned of it.

“I don’t care what they do with their land, but when they are on the town board, they work for the people in the town, and when something this big comes to our township, they’ve got to let their constituents know,” he said.

Folts said both men should have resigned over what he says is a conflict of interest.

“Now they are working for themselves, they’re not looking out for the best interests of the townspeople by having land with NextEra and not stepping down,” he said.

Wranosky and Wahl said there is no conflict of interest, as the property agreements with NextEra are with private citizens.

“People want to see the private contracts, and I’m not showing my private contract,” Wahl said. “Why should I show a private contract?”

Wranosky emphasized the town board has no role in whether to solar array is eventually built because projects of more than 100 megawatts are reviewed and licensed by the Public Service Commission.

“You can dance up and down and shoot your hands up in the air all you want, it’s all under the PSC control,” Wranosky said.

Wahl said there’s a lot of wrong information floating around, including that the board has taken a position on the project.

“We’re not taking sides,” he said. “Until they approach us, we’re not taking action on this.”

Folts and Kispert scoff at that notion, pointing to the contracts and what they say is a lack of information coming from the board.

“All we get is, 'Our hands are tied, our hands are tied,' which they are not,” Folts said.

Wranosky and Wahl said they’re being unfairly blamed by opponents, who don’t want to accept what the company is telling them.

Wahl said town officials don’t have any more information about the project beyond what’s been relayed by company officials at a town meeting in July 2021 and public informational meeting at Oconto Falls High School in September 2021.

At the July meeting, Wranosky said, NextEra officials tried to explain the project to the 60 to 70 people in attendance.

“They got very, very rude to the NextEra. They wouldn’t listen to them,” he said. “I called NextEra the day and apologized for how the people of Morgan acted.”

At the September session, a company official received numerous questions, some of them derisive, a few of them bordering on hostile.

“They still didn’t want to listen,” Wranosky said.

Wahl said that the meetings had gotten so out of hand that the board eliminated the public comment period earlier this year.

“They didn’t (like it),  but they are ones that caused this, they were so unruly,” he said. “When they get unruly and want to hang you, basically, nobody deserves that. Nobody deserves it.”

Kispert said some residents “were getting kind of loud” at the July meeting.

“They were labeled the ‘Morgan Mob’ … well, they created the mob,” he said. “They made these people, (who) invested their life’s work for their home and family and property, they made that drop in value considerably.”

Folts was asked whether the opponents believe they’ll be able to stop the project.

“At this time, we don’t know … we haven’t come to that bridge yet,” he said. “We haven’t gotten any straight answers from our town board since this came in, and we won’t know until we get a different town board in there, and that’s why I’m running.”

Folts, who said he moved from Little Suamico to Morgan four years ago, added that the issue isn’t NextEra, it’s the town board.

“They’re not working for us,” he said.

Wranosky said that’s not true, noting he’s put in six years as a supervisor and more than 11 years as chair, and his lived in Morgan all his life.

“I’m dedicated to this town, to the well-being of this town,” he said.

Using the roughly $1 million received from American Transmission Company about 15 years ago, the town built a recycling center, new town hall and a veteran’s memorial, all approved by residents, he said.

Wahl, who’s been on the town board since 2007, said there’s other issues the town should be addressing.

“Why should we be wasting valuable time, the board ’s time, when this project is not even close to being a go?” he asked.

Kispert said Wranosky and Wahl’s long tenure means it's time for a change.

“Those guys have been in there forever,” he said. "They’re just too comfortable there. They’ve been having meetings for the last 20 years where one or two people show up, and there’s keeping them in check.”

Now that town of Morgan meetings have been much more heavily attended in the last 18 months or so, residents “are seeing how they conduct business, and they’re not happy with it.”

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Contact Kent Tempus at (920) 431-8226 or ktempus@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Rift over solar array leads to recall vote in town of Morgan