Election 2018: Lafayette County Board
On the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors, four incumbents will have opposing candidates for the nonpartisan seat. District 1 Supervisor Larry Ludlum will seek re-election against Mike Paulson, District 3 Supervisor Jack Sauer will be on the ballot versus candidate Nick Metz, Supervisor Leon Wolfe of District 4 will be running against Jeremiah Kleiber, and District 5 Supervisor Dwayne Larson will be on the ballot against candidate Andy Schilling.
Incumbents Steve Spensley, Tony Ruesga, Robert Boyle, Kriss Marion, Jack Wiegel, John Bartels, Gerald Heimann, Carol Korn and David Hammer are running unopposed. In District 9, the incumbent Wayne Wilson resigned Aug. 31. Robert Laeser will be on the ballot for the seat. District 13 Supervisor Ted Wiegel and District 16 Supervisor John Perkins have both chosen not to seek re-election. District 13 candidate Ursula Fecht is running unopposed. Two candidates will vie for the District 16 position: Rita Buchholz and Cal Robbins.
Age: Seventy Three
City/town of residence: Town of Argyle
Family: wife Carolyn, sons Scott (Chelsea Chandler), Grant
Education: Monroe High School, UW- Madison, Bachelor of Science-Education, UW-Milwaukee, Masters in Business Administration.
Occupation: Retired
Previous elected positions held: None
What are the top issues facing this district/municipality and how would you work to resolve it?
I believe that the top issue facing Lafayette County is achieving and maintaining a safe, clean, adequate supply of water to all residents of the county. 70 percent of our residents and 97 percent of our communities depend on groundwater for their drinking water source. According to US Geological maps, approximately 75 percent of the county sits on soil that is less than 5ft. above bedrock and over 50 percent of the county sits on soil that is considered to be the most highly susceptible to groundwater contamination.
New techniques are continually being devised to measure water quality. New contaminants are continually entering our water supply, and new levels of contamination are being set. Many of our water sources are higher in nitrates than acceptable levels. Levels of radium in our water are often higher than acceptable levels.
There is no quick fix to this problem, and it will not get cheaper to solve this problem in the future. The county board along with the state and federal governments will need to be involved in the economics, regulation, and implementation of achieving and maintaining a safe and reliable source of clean water.
What are other key issues facing the district/municipality, and how would you work to resolve them?
Some other issues that the county board will have to deal with are health care, internet service, and school safety. These issues are going to take input from the local, state, and federal level to come up with acceptable solutions that consider need, resources, and cost. I suspect that I will learn more than I have to offer, for the most part, so I look forward to be hearing from other board members and my constituents.
Somewhere in the last few years I remember reading a quote: "Life is a series of problems or life is a series of problems with solutions." I believe that the choice we make is reflected in our attitude and character.