Application deadline of April 24 set for ‘student district’
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With an imminent facelift and a game of musical chairs on the horizon, a search is on for an appointee in Whitewater’s second aldermanic district.
Council member Stephanie Abbott, who currently represents District No. 2, is relocating within the city. Last week, she was voted into office to represent constituents in the fifth aldermanic district.
Sarah Bregant, the current seat-holder of District No. 5, chose not to seek re-election in this spring’s general election.
The second aldermanic district has one year remaining on it. As a precursor to discussing how it would be filled, Abbott formally resigned from the spot, effective this coming Monday, April 20.
The following day, Abbott and other officials who have been elected or re-elected will be formally sworn into office.
“I will be moving one seat to the left in a few weeks,” Abbott said of her spot at the table with a hint of humor as she discussed the changes taking place on the council.
Frequently dubbed the “student district” — a nod to its geographic proximity to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus — the second aldermanic district has frequently been represented by a college student.
Abbott herself is a UW-Whitewater graduate and filled the District No. 2 seat when she was attending the school.
With the intent of getting the best pool of candidates possible before students pack up and take their summer hiatus, Abbott suggested taking steps to fill the vacancy sooner, rather than later.
After discussing the issue briefly, the council decided on appointing a resident to fill the vacancy.
An application deadline has been set for next Friday, April 24. The six council members will then review applications and could make a decision at their Tuesday, May 5, meeting.
The council briefly considered looking into filling the vacancy at the upcoming Tuesday, April 21, meeting, but many officials said they believed the timeline would be too tight.
“I don’t think the next meeting would give us enough time,” council member Lynn Binnie said.
Filling a vacant aldermanic seat is not unprecedented in Whitewater. Early this year, Brienne Diebolt-Brown was appointed to fill the remaining four months on the fourth aldermanic district seat that was vacated by UW-Whitewater Professor Jim Winship.
“We do have a policy and procedure that has been followed in the past,” Council President Patrick Singer noted as he discussed the options before him and other elected officials.
Statutorily, the council has two other options for filling the vacancy, though neither has been explored in the past.
The council could presumably leave the District No. 2 seat empty until next spring’s general election, though it would leave that section of the city without an elected representative for a full year.
The city also could hold a special election solely for residents living within that district, though such a scenario would incur additional costs because of personnel time and the cost of printing ballots.
Bregant is one of several sitting council members who are about to depart the elected body. Others include Phil Frawley in District No. 1 and Diebolt-Brown in District No. 3.
