By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
When a seat on the East Troy Village Board opened up with Trustee John Jacoby not running for re-election because he is moving out of the village, Mary Hubbard Nugent and Benny Stichmann said they decided to run for office.
With Trustees Alex Alger and John Alexander running for re-election, that leaves four candidates with three open seats in Tuesdays spring election.
Stichmann and Nugent are both members of the village Plan Commission and Nugent served as a village trustee for six terms in the past.
Alger and Alexander have been on the Village Board since 2017. Alexander, a former Village Board member, was appointed to the board in 2017 after Scott Seager won both his trustee seat and the board president’s seat. Alexander successfully ran for a one-year term in 2018 to finish out the full two-year term.
Nugent and Stichmann both said they only decided to run because there was an open seat on the board, not because they thought the current board dynamics were a problem.
“I’m not in pursuit of fixing a problem that doesn’t need fixing, I’m looking to fill a vacancy and hoping to bring in something of a more assertive personality and view to the board,” Stichmann said.
“It’s a high-functioning board and if there wasn’t an opening, I might not have considered it,” Nugent said. “I want to work with those people again and part of it is being a women, there are no women on the board, and I think I can bring a different perspective. With my experience as a board member and my occupation as a nurse, I’ve worked a lot with HR issues and I can bring that experience to the board.”
For Alger, running for re-election is about continuing the work he’s been a part of for the last two years.
“I really like the things we are accomplishing. I think we have a fantastic team that really works well together and I want to continue to be a part of that,” Alger said.
Alexander said he was proud of the work the Village Board has accomplished over the last couple of years and wanted to stick around to keep the momentum going.
“I’m a practical decision maker that looks for continuous improvement,” Alexander said.
For the full story, pick up a copy of this week’s East Troy Times/News.
