By Heather Ruenz
Editor
In the lone contested race in Whitewater, for the Aldermanic District 1 seat, residents backed the incumbent in Tuesday’s election.
According to unofficial Walworth County results, Patrick Wellnitz earned 405 votes over challenger Kenneth Kienbaum’s 237 votes for the District 1 council seat.
After a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters, the two candidates were asked what they thought were priorities for the council. Wellnitz said they begin with the budget.
“The budget’s always the most contentious part of the year. After that, it’s just growing, developing businesses, getting businesses, getting new development. Right now the grocery store is the big issue. The industrial park, the infrastructure (and) balancing the budget, finding the money, getting it all done, and staying within our checkbook,” Wellnitz said.
Kienbaum said the wastewater treatment plant “is probably the most important. I think the library is probably the next area… I think we need to look at green energy as far as the City of Whitewater… a wind generator or solar panels for city hall that would eliminate the electric bill… at the wastewater treatment plant, if we could eliminate the electric bill and the gas bill, we could almost maintain the sewer rate that it was.”
The other three seats up for election on the Whitewater Common Council were uncontested with the incumbents receiving the following number of votes: District 2 – James Langnes, 539; District 4 – Lynn Binnie, 755; and Councilmember At Large – James Allen, 2816 (according to totals in both Walworth and Jefferson counties.)
Two names were on the ballot for the Whitewater Unified School District with two seats up for election. In that race, Jim Stewart earned 3,533 votes and Brian Brunner, 3,035.
