Pearson selected as Cobb’s replacement on Lac du Flambeau town board

The Lac du Flambeau Town Board has returned to its full three-member complement with the selection of Dennis Pearson to replace Gloria Cobb.

Town chairman Matt Gaulke and town supervisor Bob Hansen on Oct. 18 had accepted Cobb’s resignation during a special town board meeting.

First elected as a town supervisor in April, 2019, Cobb, a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and former member of the tribal council, had a few months ago announced she would begin recusing herself from any discussion or decisions made by the town board in its ongoing dispute with the tribe regarding expired easements over tribal land on four roads, Annie Sunn Lane, Center Sugarbush Lane, East Ross Allen Lake Lane and Elsie Lake Lane. 

The current dispute between the town and the tribe has been going on since Jan. 31, 2023, and Cobb remained involved at the town board level until earlier this summer.

On Oct. 7, Cobb was once again elected to the tribal council and a little more than a week later, during a regular meeting of the town board on Oct. 16, announced she was stepping down from the town board.

“Although in the past I have simultaneously ran (for and) sat on the town board and the tribal council, I do not, with a full heart, believe that it would be ethical for me to continue to do so due to the roads issue,” she said in a statement at the Oct. 16 meeting. “Because of the small size of the town board, it would be patently unfair to the citizens of the town of Lac du Flambeau for me to remain as a member unless I could fully represent their best interest by voting on all matters without any constraints.”

Cobb further stated she would recuse herself from any discussion or decision at the tribal council level regarding the four roads. 

Meeting in special session two days later, Gaulke and Hanson decided to set Nov. 1 as the deadline for people who wished to be considered as a replacement for Cobb to submit letters of interest to the town with a decision to be made at the Nov. 6 town board meeting. 

Eight to choose from

Pearson was one of eight people who submitted letters of interest to the town regarding the vacant town supervisor position. 

The other candidates were Lac du Flambeau residents Rick LaRock, Norm Wetzel, John Bernard, Dave Ramsey, Mary Possin, Jeff Johnson and Pam Fraboni. 

Of the eight, Pearson and Possin have property involved in the current easement dispute, Possin on Elsie Lake Lane and Pearson on East Ross Allen Lake Lane. 

Possin, Pearson, Johnson, Wetzel, Fraboni and LaRock attended the Nov. 6 meeting and when the time came, briefly addressed the town board when Gaulke provided the opportunity. 

Possin said she applied for the vacancy “because I’m not running in April.”

The town board will expand from three seats to five in the spring, 2025, election. 

Possin’s background includes three terms on the Monroe School Board, with two years as its president. 

“Coming to a lot of the town board meetings over the last two years now, I feel relatively comfortable stepping in for five months until you allow the electors to choose the next members of this board,” she said. “But more than that, what I really wanted to say to you tonight was that I hope there’s somebody in this group of people that all three of you can agree upon, that you can come to consensus on whoever you choose.”

The “three of you” Possin was referencing were Gaulke, Hanson and town clerk Susan Schoonover. 

“To me, consensus doesn’t mean that I get my first choice,” Possin said. “It means I get a choice I can support ... I think you owe that person that.”

Johnson, a realtor with Lakeshore Holdings, said he and his wife have lived in Lac du Flambeau full-time for the past five years and he believes he has “certain skills and experience in the most important issue for us right now and that is these road closures and barricades.”

“I think we need to get that fixed before we can get the community reunited,” he said. 

Pearson said he’s “been pretty active” and “pretty hard” on the current board “during some of the times the board has been distracted over the roads issue.”

“There’s a lot of things that haven’t been able to get done because so much time’s been spent on that,” he said. “I’m also a big believer in being able to listen. Communicate effectively. Own your decisions. Be active in your community.”

Pearson said he believes he’s also established what he described as “a pretty good rapport” with tribal leadership because of the road issue. 

“I think I can bring some of that to the meeting,” he said. “You have to talk to those people you disagree with. You’re not always going to agree but you have to continue to communicate and I think that’s kind of where some of the breakdown has taken place and I like to think I can bring some of that to the table.”

Gaulke, Hanson and Schoonover also heard brief remarks from Wetzel, LaRock and Fraboni before proceeding with the selection process.

Hanson suggested written ballots from each containing their top four choices. 

“We put our top four choices in order of priority and see if we agree on anyone,” he said. 

 “I guess we could do that,” Gaulke said. 

He gave Lac du Flambeau resident Gary Munson the floor before the vote. 

“I just wanted to say to all the people who put their names in thank you for stepping up to do this,” he said. Munson added he hoped that each of them, with the exception of Possin who had already stated she had no intention of doing so, would be willing to run for town board in the spring if they weren’t selected to replace Cobb.

Hanson’s choices for final consideration were Wetzel, Johnson, Ramsey and LaRock; Schoonover chose Pearson and Johnson and Gaulke’s list was Pearson, Johnson, Fraboni and Possin. 

Hanson noted Johnson was a choice all three had on their respective lists. 

“Looks like it,” Gaulke said and after a pause, he let Hanson and Schoonover know which way he was going. 

“I guess the one I’d like to see, though, is Dennis Pearson because he’s involved,” he said.

“I’m not sure it’s going to sit well with his attorney if he’s involved in a suit against the town,” Hanson said of a lawsuit property owners on the four roads have filed against the town of Lac du Flambeau. “Then he comes and sits on the town board. I think that may be an issue.”

Pearson clarified he’s an intervener and not a litigant in a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice has against the town. 

“He’s part of it on our side,” Gaulke said.

“It’s getting dicey when you get into that,” Hanson said. “I don’t know.”

Gaulke made a motion to appoint Pearson but didn’t get a second right away. 

“I think that’s going to die for lack of a second,” Hanson said. “I think we need to go with one we all agree on.”

It came down to Schoonover who, after a pause, said she would second Gaulke’s motion to appoint Pearson. 

The final vote was 2 to 1 with Hanson dissenting. 

Pearson was sworn in and took his seat on the town board. 

He told The Lakeland Times after the meeting he did indeed intend to run for election to the expanded town board in the spring. 

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].