City, Town of Waukesha see contested spring races

Published on: 3/25/2014

After months of campaigning, the City and Town of Waukesha's spring elections are just about here.

And come Tuesday night, many questions will be answered.

Will Waukesha have a new mayor, or will it retain its current mayor? Will there be a new alderman on the city's Common Council or will Andy Reiland retain his District 13 seat on the city's west side?

Who will replace longtime City Attorney Curt Meitz?

And how will the balance of power shift in the Town of Waukesha with two supervisor seats (1 and 3) on the ballot?

The featured race in the city is the mayoral race between first-term Mayor Jeff Scrima and challenger Shawn Reilly, a longtime municipal attorney in Waukesha. Reilly, who won the primary last month, is trying to do what Scrima did four years ago and defeat the incumbent. Reilly has the support of the majority of the Common Council and has led an aggressive campaign, calling Scrima out on many issues. He said he will provide "no more drama" in the mayor's office.

Scrima has maintained the city is better off today than it was four years ago, and he has delivered "proven results."

While many alderman are up for re-election, only one is a contested race. Reiland faces Dean Lemke, a stay-at-home dad and sports umpire, for the seat.

Eric Payne (District 2), Christopher Hernandez (District 3), Peter Bartels (District 5), Adam Jankowski (District 6), Daniel Manion (District 7) and Steve Johnson (District 10) are running unopposed. All the Aldermanic seats are three-year terms, with the exception of Bartels (two years), who is finishing out the remainder of a term.

Municipal Judge Joseph Cook is also running unopposed for his four-year seat.

Plan Commissioner and former Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Rick Congdon is facing local attorney Brian Running for the open city attorney position. Meitz, who is edorsing Congdon, is retiring at the end of his term. Congdon won the three-person primary Feb. 18.

City of Waukesha Clerk-Treasurer Gina Kozlik said based on the turnout during the 2010 mayoral election, she is expecting a voting turnout around 27 percent. She said in-person absentee voting at City Hall is still available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday and until 5 p.m. Friday.

Requests for ballots to be sent by mail must be received by today at City Hall. Kozlik said 541 absentee ballots have been returned as of Monday afternoon.

In the town, former Town Chairwoman Angie E. Van Scyoc is looking to return to the board as a supervisor to fill the seat (Supervisor 3) left by Mike Laska, who is not seeking re-election. She faces Michael Doerr, an area manager for AT&T.

Supervisor Joe Banske is seeing opposition from business owner Jim Radke for his Supervisor 1 seat.

Polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. To see a breakdown of each Aldermanic district in the city, see the city's website at www.ci.waukesha.wi.us/pollingplaces. To find where to vote, see MyVote.WI.gov.

Residents in the Town of Waukesha vote at Town Hall, W250 S3567 Center Road.

For people voting on election day, here is a list of the polling places in the City of Waukesha:

·Elks Lodge, 2301 Springdale Road, Wards 1 and 2 in Aldermanic District 1

·Waukesha City Hall, 201 Delafield St., Wards 3, 4 and 5 in Aldermanic District 2

·Rotary Building, 1150 Baxter St., Wards 6, 7 and 8 in Aldermanic District 3

·Hawthorne Elementary, 1111 Maitland Drive, Wards 9, 10 and 11 in Aldermanic District 4

·Meadowbrook Elementary, 3130 Rolling Ridge Drive, Wards 12 and 13 in Aldermanic District 5

·E.B. Shurts Building, 810 W. College Ave., Wards 14 and 15 in Aldermanic District 6

·Prairie Elementary, 1801 Center Drive, Wards 16 and 17 in Aldermanic District 7

·St. Mary's Church, 225 S. Hartwell Ave., Wards 18 and 19 in Aldermanic District 8

·Heyer Elementary, 1209 Heyer Drive, Wards 20 and 21 in Aldermanic District 9

·Waukesha South High School, 401 E. Roberta Ave., Wards 22, 23 and 24 in Aldermanic District 10

·E&R UCC Church, 413 Wisconsin Ave., Wards 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 in Aldermanic District 11

·Waukesha West High School, 3301 Saylesville Road, Wards 30 and 31 in Aldermanic District 12

·Bethesda Elementary, 730 S. University Drive, Wards 32, 33 and 34 in Aldermanic District 13

·Fire Station No. 5, 3051 Summit Ave., Wards 35 and 36 in Aldermanic District 14

·Blair Elementary, 301 Hyde Park Ave., Wards 37 and 38 in Aldermanic District 15