The Innsbrook Planning and Zoning Commission filled its remaining vacancies earlier this month. 

There were several vacancies as one seat had been open for some time and another two were opened with the expiration of the terms of former commissioners Cheri Joyce and Virgal Woolfolk. 

In their stead, John Schaefer and Ken Hanne were recommended to serve on the board by P&Z Chairman Allen Huddleston. They were appointed and sworn in at the Aug. 13 Board of Trustee meeting and the Sept. 4 P&Z meetings, respectively. 

While the board can technically have up to nine members, Huddleston said they have historically kept the board to seven with Huddleston only voting if a tiebreaker is needed. 

Those appointments were not without controversy, as there was some confusion surrounding the terms that former commissioners Joyce and Woolfolk were appointed to serve. 

At the Aug. 13 meeting where Schaefer was appointed as a commissioner, several members of the public spoke up that they were unsure that Woolfolk’s term had ended and felt he was being removed from the board unfairly. 

Village Attorney Chris Graville accepted that there may be some inconsistencies in the village’s record keeping and said he would take a closer look to see if there were any records of Woolfolk’s term when he was appointed in May 2021 to complete the unfinished term of former commissioner Bob Grah. 

Graville and the village were able to find documents created by former Village Administrator Carla Ayala outlining the terms of P&Z commissioners and found that the term that Woolfolk was filling had actually ended in April 2023. 

Joyce’s term was also found to have ended in August of this year but she had reportedly already said she did not wish to remain on the board and would have resigned her post if it was found her term had not expired. 

Currently Schaefer and Hanne’s terms are both set to expire in April 2026 along with fellow commissioner Lynda Baker who was sworn in at the June 5 P&Z meeting. The remaining commissioners are Jerry Rust, Brandon Pfeiffer and Secretary Bernie Cosby, who were all appointed on April 10 2023 and whose terms will expire in April of 2027. Huddleston was reappointed as chairman on April 8 of this year and his term is set to expire in April 2028 according to Huddleston. 

Huddleston said the newer commissioners were appointed to shorter terms in case they decided they did not want to continue serving and to allow them time to learn the ropes before serving a full term. He also wanted to point out that while the P&Z board makes recommendations to the trustees, they actually have very little power to make decisions and do not appoint their own members. 

“We make votes of recommendation, we’re just an advisory board,” said Huddleston. 

Woolfolk had previously expressed his displeasure at the assertion that his term had ended and felt he should have been reappointed. He said he felt it was retaliatory since he has been an outspoken critic of the board and its decisions at recent meetings, especially since the timing of the removal coincided closely with the July 9 board meeting in which Woolfolk spoke out strongly about the construction of Innsbrook’s new village hall. 

Huddleston has vehemently denied these claims and said that he attempted to meet with Woolfolk on multiple occasions to discuss his tenure on the board, meetings that Woolfolk has said he was never asked to attend. 

Huddleston has also denied that any personal vendetta on behalf of himself or the trustees played any part in Woolfolk’s replacement. 

“I was not told by Dan (Reuter) or any of the other board members to get rid of Virgal,” said Huddleston. 

Woolfolk said he plans to pursue legal action against the village.