Waupaca Common Council has no contested races

By Angie Landsverk

Smith is running for his eighth term as Waupaca’s mayor.

Mayor Brian Smith and the five common council members up for re-election this spring are all running unopposed.

The deadline to file nomination papers for the April 5 election was 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5, and only the incumbents filed papers.

Smith is seeking his eighth term as mayor.

He was first elected mayor in April 2002 and has been re-elected every two years since then.

Before being elected mayor, Smith served on the common council, beginning in December 1996 up until first being elected mayor.

The Waupaca native graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business education and taught in Racine before he and his wife returned to Waupaca, where he eventually started his accounting business.

In the 1st Aldermanic District, Dave Peterson is seeking his second term on the council.

He ran as a write-in candidate two years ago, after no one filed nomination papers for the seat by the filing deadline.

A lifelong resident of Waupaca, Peterson graduated from UW-Stevens Point with a degree in education and taught history at Weyauwega-Fremont High School for more than 30 years.

He retired in 2002.

His wife, Laura, is also a lifelong Waupaca resident and retired teacher.

In the city’s 2nd Aldermanic District, Eric Olson is seeking re-election.

He was first appointed to the council on Nov. 20, 2007, following the resignation of Rich Lowe, and has served since then.

The Stevens Point native graduated from UW-Stevens Point with a bachelor of arts degree in communications.

Olson and his wife, Tina, moved to Waupaca in 1993. That is when he began working at Waupaca Foundry, where he continues to work today.

Paul Mayou is seeking another term in the city’s 3rd Aldermanic District.

He was first elected to the council in April 2002 and has been re-elected every two years since that time. He is the current council president.

Mayou grew up in Minnesota and graduated from UW-River Falls with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

He and his wife, Paulette, bought the Dairy Queen in Waupaca in 1992 and moved to Waupaca in 2002. Mayou is also a partner in T-Dub’s Public House, in downtown Waupaca.

In the 4th Aldermanic District, Lori Chesnut is seeking re-election.

She was appointed to the council last June, after Deb Fenske resigned.

It was the second time Chesnut was appointed to a District 4 seat on the council.

She was also appointed to serve that district on Jan. 21, 1997, following the resignation of a council member.

Chesnut represented the district through March 1999, when she resigned from the council after moving outside the city. She moved back into District 4 in 2012.

A Waupaca area resident since 1973, Chesnut has worked in the Waupaca County Department of Health and Human Services Children and Families Unit for the past 15 years.

Alan Kjelland is seeking re-election in the 5th Aldermanic District.

He was appointed to the seat on Jan. 15, 2013, following the death of Jim Boyer, and was elected to his first full term on the council in April 2014.

Retired since 2005, Kjelland worked at Alliant Energy in Madison for 28 years.

He graduated from UW-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and from UW-Whitewater with a master’s degree in business administration.

Kjelland and his wife, Sharon, moved to Waupaca 5 1/2 years ago, after living in Sun Prairie for 34 years.