Top Stories, April 7th

Dodge County Election Results

(Beaver Dam) Beaver Dam Mayor Tom Kennedy has been elected to a second term. Joe Liverseed ran as a write-in candidate against Kennedy after falling one valid signature short of appearing on the ballot. Liverseed is an 18-year-old Wayland Academy senior whose campaign grew out of a class project. Kennedy secured 1163 votes. While it’s too early to identify anyone by name, there were 295 write-ins for Beaver Dam mayor. There were no contested aldermanic races in Beaver Dam, in fact there were no candidates at all listed in two of the seven seats up for election. In Ward Two, incumbent Mary Flaherty had to run as a write-in after she, too, fell one valid signature short of appearing on the ballot. In Ward Six, Andrew Westenmeyer chose not to seek re-election and no one stepped forward to run. There were 31 write-in votes case in Ward Two and 70 cast in Ward Six. We may find out today whose names were written-in but it could be several days before those names are verified and the position is accepted. If there is no valid write-in candidate, the mayor would bring a name forward for consideration by the common council.

(Mayville) Mayville Alderman Jerry Moede is the city’s new mayor after he defeated fellow Alderman Bob Smith by a 3 to 1 margin. Smith also lost his Ward Two Aldermanic seat to Kathleen Sertich, who secured 105 votes to Smith’s 77. There was a tie for Moede’s aldermanic seat as Bill Linzenmeyer and Bob Redeker each received 134 votes. There was a tie-breaker at city hall last night as both candidates names were put into a hat. In accordance with state statute, both candidates were present as a city employee drew Redeker’s name. Linzenmeyer is afforded 72 hours to challenge but when asked he had no comment other than to wish his opponent well. Scott Mastalish secured a one-year term in the seat vacated early by Dottie Hot beating J. Trevor Jones 59 votes to 41.

(Waupun) Mayor Jodi Steger was elected to her third term last night. Steger secured 897 votes to beat Jay Graff, who ended up with 597. Meanwhile, incumbent Alderman Peter Kaczmarski lost his seat by one vote to Daniel Ganz, 50 to 49. Incumbent Alderman Steve Bastian will stay on for another term after defeating Dale Andrew.

(Juneau) Juneau Mayor Ron Bosak retained his seat after defeating Alderman Dan Jahnke 323 votes to 152. Longtime Alderman Clarence “Butch” Chase was not so lucky as he lost to challenger Daniel Schamberger by six votes, the final tally 74-68. Incumbent Alderman Robert Affeld bested his challenger Roxanne Buss 93-77.

(Fox Lake) Alderman Tom Bednarek was able to withstand a write-in challenge and secure the mayor seat in Fox Lake. Bednarek received 117 votes while there were 74 write-ins counted. Longtime Alderman Percy Harper was unseated by former council member Dan Ault. Harper received 39 votes compared to Ault’s 47. Alderman Dan Bednarek chose not to seek re-election; Dennis Linke will fill his Ward Three seat after beating out Jason Harmsen.

(Juneau) There were four contested races on the 37-member Dodge County Board and all four incumbents retained their seats. Beaver Dam-area Supervisor MaryAnn Miller withstood a challenge from Jim Giedd with 56 votes to spare. Hustisford-area Supervisor Larry Bischoff bested Ted Engelbart by a 2 to 1 margin. Ed Qualmann of Iron Ridge overcame opposition from Tom Schmidt, but just barely 144 to 133. And finally, the longest serving county board supervisor in the history of Wisconsin, Joe Ready can add two more years to the 55 years he’s already served Dodge County. Ready beat challenger Daniel Olejniczak 73 votes to 62. Olejniczak did however overwhelmingly secure a spot on the Watertown City Council last night by defeating Robert Goff, 115 to 18.

(Waupun) On the Waupun School Board, incumbent Roger Schregardus will keep his seat representing the Towns of Burnett, Chester, Springvale, Oakfield and Waupun after beating Lillian Possin 1055-815. Bill Bruns will be seated on the board after securing 1022 votes, compared to the 955 votes that Jamie Marwitz received.

(Fall River) Fall River filled its 3 open village board seats with two incumbents and one newcomer. Incumbent Jeff Slotten garnered the most votes with 125 followed closely by the newcomer John Ninmann with 118 votes. The other incumbent, Judy Robbins, finished third with 110. Mandy MacFarlane came in 4th with 56 votes.

 

Also... the Fall River School District Board of Canvassers did randomly select Steve Bader as the winner in the School Board race where Bader and David Brozek were tied with 150 votes each. That selection will stand if no "recount request" is received before the end of the school day on Friday.

Court of Appeals

Wisconsin will get two new appeals court judges as the result of yesterday’s local elections, including one that represents most of our area. Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard easily won a seat on the Fourth District Appellate Court which serves 24 counties in southern and central Wisconsin. Blanchard will replace the retiring Charles Dykman, who had served on the appellate court when it was first formed in the late 1970’s.

Voter Turnout

Just 16-percent of registered voters in Dodge County came out to cast a ballot in yesterday’s election. County Clerk Karen Gibson says of the more than 47,000 registered voters in the county just 7,700 voted. She says the turnout shows the importance of every single vote. Gibson says the one plus to the low turnout was a relatively problem free day for her staff.

Walker Speaks in Beaver Dam

4/7/10 - One of the Republican candidates for Governor, Scott Walker, spoke to about 50-people at the Veterans Center in Beaver Dam last night. The Milwaukee County Executive touched on issues ranging from health care reform to creating jobs during the one-hour session. Walker took questions for a majority of his allotted time, including one about the hot button issue of health care saying he’s read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and can’t find anything that allows the federal government to force citizens to buy health insurance. Walker also spoke about finding new sources of clean energy but not at the cost of raising customer’s utility rates. He say’s he’s all for going green but that, “I want the green to save me green or make me green not take green from my pocket.” The former state assemblyman also told a corrections officer that he has no plans to privatize the states prison system. This afternoon it’s Democratic candidate Tom Barrett’s turn to speak at the Veterans Center. Doors open to the public at 2:30 with Barrett scheduled to start speaking at 3pm.

Columbus Hires Engineering Firm

4/7/10 - A “long-term” engineering contract was approved by the Columbus Council last night. The council agreed to a seven year agreement with Ruekert Mielke for engineering services. The council also approved the first two projects to be assigned to the engineering firm. The first being the repair of Farnham Street from Park Street to Waterloo and the second will be design inspection of the new Highland Commons. The contract allows engineering firms currently involved in capital projects to complete the work they were hired to do. However, they’ll be working closely with a new “City Engineer” - the Ruekert Mielke firm.

BDPFC Hires Search Firm

4/7/10 - The Beaver Dam Police and Fire Commission last night approved the hiring of a headhunting firm in their search for a new police chief. The commission voted to offer the contract to Voorhee’s and Associates of Deerfield, Illinois. The base price for the search is $15,000 plus expenses.