Springwater Township elects new board member with 20 write-in ballots

The Springwater Township Board annual meeting and election attracted 21 voters and several nonresidents Tuesday night, March 14.
That’s more than seven times the usual number at the annual meeting of an otherwise uneventful township in western Rock County.
At issue was snow removal — the difficulty in keeping roads cleared. And at the end of the night, the township board chair lost his re-election, and a 38-year snow removal contract will end this year.
Kurt Wenzel has been on the township board since 2009 and has served as chairman since 2016.
He was the only candidate on Tuesday’s ballot, but 20 people wrote in Curt Sandbulte’s name for the township seat. Only one person voted for Wenzel.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had that many people show up for a township annual meeting,” said Teresa Kramer, who has been Springwater Township’s clerk since 2001.
She registered three new voters that evening (the roster of registered voters in the township is now at 142).
She said tensions ran high at the meeting. “I haven’t seen anything like that before,” Kramer said. “They weren’t happy.”
Township constituents voted to pursue a snow removal contract with Chad Versteeg Construction for next winter.
The record shows Mike Gangestad made the motion and Dalton Gath seconded with those in attendance voting “aye” and no one voting “nay.”
Rodney Lowe has been Springwater Township’s contracted snow mover for 38 years.
“I’ll be the first to admit we’ve struggled this year,” Lowe said after the meeting. “When we get wind like this, it takes three to five days to get the roads cleared.”
He and his brother move snow on 103 miles of township roads — 55 miles in Springwater Township and the rest in two neighboring South Dakota townships.
“The thing that bothers me is that it sounds like they really bad-mouthed me at the meeting,” Lowe said.
“I get that nobody likes to look out and see the plow hasn’t been by, but we always try to make one pass, so at least people can get out. But we can’t help that wind blows the roads shut behind us. … It’s not like I’m sitting at home eating bonbons.”
He said Springwater isn’t the only township in Rock County struggling to keep up.
Beaver Creek Township hired an extra snowblower to help the plow driver keep up, and Rose Dell Township hired a dozer to push snow from the shoulders farther off the road.
“They’ve spent $50,000 just dozing the snow,” Lowe said. “That’s in addition to their regular plowing.”
Lowe’s bill so far in Springwater Township is roughly $80,000. ‘That’s the most it’s ever been,” he said. “A typical winter for Springwater Township is $11,000.”
He said citizens are usually happy with his work because he uses a snowblower to spread the snow out of the ditch, rather than just winging it up on shoulders.
This year, however, the practice of plowing a path and following up with the blower didn’t keep up with drifting snow that plugged the roads behind him.
Springwater Township Board member Tom Baustian said Lowe’s equipment has a plow, but not the extra blade to “wing” snow up on road shoulders.
“A wing on the plow buys you more time,” Baustian said. “When Rodney comes through with an 8-foot-wide path, it just drifts shut behind him. … The wind was the real enemy here. It wasn’t Rodney Lowe.”
Springwater Township’s contract with VerSteeg goes into effect next winter, but last week he started helping Lowe with the miles on the east half of the township.
Baustian admitted the meeting had become contentious, but he defended Lowe’s work history with the township.
“We appreciate all the service he has given us over the years,” he said. “We were just at a breaking point, and we were worried about liability … for emergency equipment to get in and out, if needed.”
For his part, Sandbulte said he wasn’t that interested in becoming an elected official; he just found himself moving his own snow this winter, and frequently the neighbors’ snow, when the township plow couldn’t keep up.
“It’s been a frustrating winter for everyone,” Sandbulte said. “Probably more so for livestock farmers trying to get feed in and trucks in and out.”
He has shared frequent social media video posts of himself cleaning the roads so he can feed and bed his livestock and help his dad, Gerrit Sandbulte, with cows that are calving.
“Also, I have a video of me bringing my kids to the county road for the bus in my loader tractor,” Sandbulte said.
He said many of the people who showed up at Tuesday’s meeting were frustrated with the condition of their roads this winter.
“Some of them have had to use paid time off because they haven’t been able to get to work for multiple days after a storm has ended,” Sandbulte said.
Sandbulte said he’s not exactly sure how he came to be an elected township board member.
“I’m honestly not sure who spearheaded the write-in,” he said. “I think it snowballed from one or two people, and they told one or two people, and so on.”
He was sworn in Friday, and his three-year term starts with the April 4 Springwater Township Board meeting.
“Hopefully I can do a good job,” Sandbulte said. “It will be a steep learning curve for me, but I travel all these township roads with the balers, so that should help. … I’ve talked to board members from other townships in Rock County who are more than willing to answer any questions I have.”