With often-contentious appointment decisions on the docket and tensions high around the ongoing Daley Farm lawsuit, the Winona County Board majority extended some olive branches at its last meeting. Meanwhile, in response to the lawsuit’s revelations, County Board Chair Marcia Ward raised the prospect of rejecting the reappointment of a Planning Commission member.
County Board member Chris Meyer has historically voted with fellow members Greg Olson and Marie Kovecsi to appoint environmentally minded citizens to the Board of Adjustment (BOA), but on Tuesday, Meyer joined Ward and County Board member Steve Jacob in voting 3-2 to appoint Jordan Potter — who ran against Olson in last fall’s County Board election — to the BOA. Kovecsi and Olson voted against Potter’s appointment. During the election, Potter voiced support for reconsidering the county’s limit on farm size — the impetus for the Daley dispute — and criticized Olson as unfairly blaming water pollution on local farms. A judge in the Daley Farm lawsuit criticized the County Board majority for appointing members to the BOA in 2019 that, the judge said, the board knew in advance would oppose the Daley Farm’s proposed farm expansion.