By Vanessa Lenz
Staff Writer
With the deadline for filing candidacy papers having passed, the spring election season in East Troy is taking shape with three contested races.
On the East Troy Village Board three trustee seats expire in April, as well as the village president position.
In the race for president, incumbent Bill Loesch is being challenged by trustee Randy Timms.
Loesch has been a member of the board since 1986.
Timms has been a village trustee since 2004 and village plan commission member since moving to East Troy in 2001.
“I have been asked many times over the years to run for this office, but felt Bill was doing a pretty good job and I was content to support his efforts and learn my role as a trustee,” said Timms.
Timms said he chose to run this spring because Loesch, whose home is on the market, has expressed his desire to move to California to be with his children.
“So if Bill does win this election, it’s only a matter of time before they sell and move. Assuming that happens beyond the election cycle, the board would then be forced to appoint a replacement. I think this board needs a leader,” said Timms.
Loesch could not be immediately reached for comment.
Incumbents Dusty Stanford and Fred Douglass and newcomer Chris Gultch are running for the three trustee spots in uncontested races.
Trustee Mary Nugent has chosen not to seek re-election.
Two spots also are up this spring on the East Troy Community School District Board.
Incumbents Brian Wexler and Dawn Buchholtz both have seats expiring in April.
Wexler, who currently serves as president, and Buchholtz will be joined on the ballot by Ted Zess and Charles Harwood.
Both Harwood and Zess were in the running to replace school board member Steve Lambrechts, who resigned this fall to maintain his East Troy girls basketball coaching position.
The school board appointed Murry Mitten to the seat Nov. 12 following public interviews with three candidates who applied for the position.
Harwood, an East Troy resident since 2010, also sought the office in the April 2012 election.
The father of three said he would like to bring a parent’s perspective to the board.
Zess, owner of Allan Integrated Control Systems in East Troy, has been active in the local community. Zess has served as a village official in various capacities, as president of the All-Sports Booster Club, on the school district’s ad-hoc Facilities Advisory Committee and village’s Economic Development Committee.
In the Town of Troy, chairman John Kendall is running for re-election in an uncontested race.
Wexler will again have his name on the ballot as he joins incumbents Kathy Tober and Ben Bourdo in the race for two supervisor seats.
Wexler, who has lived in the town for 35 years, has previously served on the Town of Troy Board and Town of Troy plan commission.
The town will now have a combined clerk/treasurer with plan commission secretary Michele Stute and Cheryl Chapman vying for the position.
All three East Troy Town Board seats are up for election.
Incumbent board members, including chairperson Joe Klarkowski and supervisors Barb Church and Clayton Montez all plan to seek re-election, and no other residents within the town’s boundaries have filed candidacy paperwork.
