Replacements still needed for retiring supervisors

By Robert Cloud

No names will appear on the April 5 ballots for four Waupaca County Board seats this election.

The deadline to register to appear on the ballot was Tuesday, Jan. 4.

District 8 represents all of the village of Big Falls and the towns of Harrison and Wyoming, and one precinct each in the towns of Helvetia and Iola.

Janet L. Lehrer, who was first elected to represent District 8 in 2018, passed away in November 2021. Her seat remains vacant and no candidates have filed election papers for the position.

Supervisor Joyce Boyer, who has served on the board since February 2013, chose not to seek re-election to District 11, which includes part of the city of Waupaca. Nobody has filed papers for this seat.

District 18 is also without a candidate. Supervisor Pat Craig announced her plans to retire from the county board in November 2021. She has represented the town of Royalton and part of Little Wolf or 25 years.

Mary Craig will not seek re-election to District 27 and nobody has filed for this seat. The district includes the city of Manawa and part of the town of Little Wolf.

Craig was elected as a write-in candidate in 2020 with a total of 24 votes.

The District 27 supervisory seat had been vacant since July 2019 after John Smith, then mayor of Manawa, abruptly resigned in response to a 20-6 vote to amend in the county’s public health and nuisance ordinances. The changes removed “noxious fumes and odors” from the list of nuisances.

Smith noted that people living near Bear Lake were coping with the fumes of an asphalt plant at a local sand pit and the change gave them no way to seek redress.

County Clerk Jill Lodewegen said people can register to run as a write-in candidate. The deadline to register is Friday, April 1.

The write-in candidate who receives the most votes will be called. If they agree, the county board can appoint them to the seat.