Smith ready for sixth term
Brian Smith is set to begin his sixth term as the city’s mayor.
Re-elected to the position on April 3, Smith received 622 votes to challenger Deb Fenske’s 432 votes.
“I thank the people for re-electing me, and I’m looking forward to two more years as the mayor,” Smith said.
He was first elected Waupaca’s mayor in April 2002 and has been re-elected every two years since then. Prior to becoming mayor, Smith served on the Common Council from December 1996 until April 2002.
Fenske, who represents the city’s 4th Aldermanic District on the Common Council, sought her first term as mayor.
She was also up for re-election for her seat on the council and was unopposed in that race.
“I took my opponent seriously,” Smith said. “Some of the things that she ran on – we will look to see if those things make sense for the city. We would then take it through committee level and take it from there.”
Smith looks forward to working with the Common Council. The makeup of the council is unchanged following last week’s election.
He said this will allow the city to move forward with a number of things.
“The No. 1 thing we want to work on,” Smith said, “is the hiring of an economic development director.”
Plans call for that position to be filled in the fall.
In addition, the council will continue planning for the city’s 2013 budget.
“We have worked on it the last 1 1/2 years,” Smith said.
The mayor advertised his re-election campaign in a variety of ways.
His signs were on various properties throughout the city. He ran ads in both the March 22 and March 29 editions of the County Post West.
On WDUX, he ran three ads a day, from Friday, March 23 through Monday, April 2. On election day, he ran two advertisements on the radio station.
Smith also participated in the debate that was sponsored by the Waupaca Area Chamber of Commerce and was broadcast on WIN TV.
More people voted this April than they did two years ago when there was a mayoral race.
Deputy City Clerk Sandy Stiebs said voter turnout in the city was about 38 percent for last week’s election, which included local, state and national candidates.
A total of 1,115 of the city’s 2,963 registered voters went to the polls, she said.
She attributed that percentage to the fact that the presidential preference was on the ballot.
Two years ago, voter turnout was 21 percent in the city. That ballot included local, county and state races, Stiebs said.
In 2008, the presidential preference vote took place in February instead of in April like it did this year.
“It was the only thing on the ballot,” she said of that February 2008 election. Voter turnout on that day was 34.2 percent, Stiebs said.
