Voters say no

School district voters reject $39.9 million high school referendum

A second try for a $39.9 million high school referendum for renovations and expansion of Medford Area Senior High School failed losing by a 2,450 to 1,363 margin among Taylor County voters.

The school board had previously brought the question to district voters last November where it was narrowly defeated and attempted to bring it back with the hopes that they could take additional time to educate voters about the need for the work.

Voter turnout was high for a spring election with 5,140 voters heading to the polls across the county. On the ballots were school board and municipal races. By comparison, the county had 10,710 voters cast ballots in the November general election. “I am pretty disappointed. I feel we missed a great opportunity with the current interest rates, one we will all pay for some time in the future,” said Pat Sullivan, Medford’s district administrator.

In addition to additional educational spaces including a gym and theater, the board had hoped to address security and ongoing infrastructure issues with the high school project. Sullivan was unsure about where the board would go from here saying it was too early to tell what will happen concerning the district facilities.

While overall the election ran smoothly across the county, county clerk Andria Farrand, who is the county’s head election official, said there had been some issues with the town of Medford running out of paper ballots.

According to Farrand, they had estimated about 50% of voters would want to use the ExpressVote electronic voting machine. However, most voters selected the paper ballot causing them to run out in the early evening when there was a rush of voters. Farrand said she printed up additional ballots and they were taken to the town hall where voting was taking place.

School board races

In the Medford Area Public School District five people were running for four seats. Dave Fleegel had 2,723 votes, Don Everhard had 2,625 votes, Jodi Nuernberger had 2,519 votes and Aemus Balsis had 2,141 votes. Incumbent Barb Knight failed to win reelection with 1,938 votes.

In the Gilman School District, three people were running for three seats with Chris Skabroud receiving 520 votes, Darrell Thompson with 447 votes and Bruce Ewings Sr. with 424 votes.

In the Rib Lake School District one candidate was running for each of the three district seats. Nicole Glenzer with 436 votes will represent town of Rib Lake with two write-ins. Stacy Tlusty with 414 votes and two write-ins will represent the town of Westboro. Jackelyn Mohr with 427 votes and three write-ins will continue to serve as the at large position.

Village and city races

In the city of Medford, Laura Holmes was reelected district 1 alderperson with 266 votes with one write-in. In district 2, Greg Knight had 190 votes with 9 write-ins. In district 3 David Roiger had 203 votes. In district 4 Mike Bub had 199 votes with three write-ins.

In the village of Rib Lake Bill Schreiner had 110 votes for village president. For trustee George Tesch had 101 votes, Russel Bullis had 96 votes and Rocky Jones had 94 votes.

In the village of Stetsonville, Greg Brunner had 125 votes for village president. For trustee Stephanie Bohn had 123 votes and Allan Riemer had 120 votes.

In the village of Gilman Jane DeStaercke received 44 votes for village president. For trustee Gregory Steinbach had 51 votes, Eileen Grunseth had 47 votes and Mark Person had 46 votes.

In the village of Lublin Randy Madlon won for village president with 39 votes over Richard Pulcher with 20 votes. For village trustee Hermann Klarr had 51 votes and Christine Nowak had 39 votes over David Oleson with 19 votes. For clerk Rita Niznik had 52 votes and for treasurer Patricia Siudak had 55 votes. The village referendum to appoint the village clerk and treasurer passed with 40 yes and 15 no.

Town races

In the town of Aurora, Earl Hinkel retained his chairman seat with 69 votes. Brian Phelps with 50 votes and Adam Johnson with 47 votes were elected as supervisors over Frank Czahor with 46 votes.

In the town of Browning, Damon Brandner received 250 votes for town chairman. Donald Purvis received 202 votes and Larry Virnig received 227 votes to retain their supervisor seats. Sharon Nolan was elected town clerk with 46 write-in ballots, there were 11 other writein votes cast. Melody Kuenne was unopposed for treasurer with 245 votes.

In the town of Chelsea Claire “Butch” Frischman was unopposed for chairman with 232 votes, Matthew Roiger with 221 votes and Jonathan Rief with 196 votes were elected as supervisors. Gail Mildbrand was reelected clerk with 233 votes and Joanne Loock was elected treasurer with 232 votes.

In the town of Cleveland, Scott Capelle received 51 votes for town chairman with two write-ins. Allen Kurth with 46 votes and MaKade Kurth with 41 votes were elected as supervisors. Joseph Liegl is the clerk with 29 write in ballots and Tammy Wojcik is treasurer with 59 votes.

In the town of Deer Creek, Ray Sackmann is chairman with 188 votes with one write-in opposed. Harley Waldhart with 172 votes and Richard Halopka with 156 votes are the supervisors. There was one write-in. Jeneane Metz with 187 votes is clerk and Deb Fierke with 189 votes is treasurer.

In the town of Ford, Robert Baker is chairman with 40 votes. Leonard Nichols with 41 votes and Larry Hartzell with 28 votes were elected as supervisors over Ted Wilz with 19 votes. Kimberly Meyer with 39 votes is treasurer.

In the town of Goodrich, Jason Smola had 164 votes for chairman to Erhardt Lemke with 44 votes. There was one write-in. For supervisor, Debra Fuchs with 163 and Steven Coralline with 136 won over Catherine Lemke with 65 votes. There was one write-in. For clerk, Ashley Dahl had 202 votes with one write-in and for treasurer Julie Lemke had 190 votes with two write-ins.

In the town of Greenwood James Gebauer is the chairman with 64 votes over Duane Goodnoe with 58 votes. For supervisor, Michael Wudi had 111 votes and Travis Fuchs had 16 write-ins. Other write in candidates were Robert Schultius with 12 votes, Tom Fuchs with 6 votes and 36 other write-ins. For clerk Jill Scheithauer had 114 votes and Linda Bartlet had 116 votes for treasurer.

In the town of Grover, Craig Bolz had 64 votes for chairman. For supervisor Ronald Sromek had 71 votes and Thomas Duell had 52 votes over Dane Bolz with 19 votes. For clerk Mary Quante had 67 votes and for treasurer Holly Sromek had 75 votes.

In the town of Hammel, Steven Deml had 227 votes for chairman. For supervisor Joseph Zenner had 196 votes and Michael Ecklund Jr. had 186 votes. For clerk Renee Zenner had 225 votes, for treasurer Rhonda Seidl had 228 votes and for constable Jack Johnson had 226 votes. The referendum question to have the clerk and treasurer be appointed failed with 138 no votes to 108 yes.

In the town of Holway, Rod Adams had 148 votes for chairman. For supervisor Steve Hamann had 128 votes and Rick Nehls had 141 votes. For clerk Jenny Nehls had 150 votes and for treasurer Amber Larson had 148 votes.

In the town of Jump River, Myron Brooks had 58 votes for chairman. For supervisor Gary Beadles had 47 votes and BillieJo Hempelman had 44 votes over Rhonda Lewan with 23 votes. For clerk Denise Webster had 65 votes and for treasurer Karen Cummings had 59 votes.

In the town of Little Black, Dan Hoffman had 283 votes with five write-ins. For supervisor Chad Smith had 248 votes and Bryan Jochimsen had 247 votes with 17 write-ins. For clerk JoAnn Smith had 297 votes with five write-ins and for treasurer Marian Nernberger had 308 votes with one write-in.

In the town of Maplehurst, Mark Nosko had 79 votes for chairman. For supervisor Raymond Soper had 69 votes and Anthony Friedenfels had 67 votes. For clerk Judith Larson had 80 votes and for treasurer Marilyn Ovyn had 82 votes. Michael Barna had 77 votes for assessor.

In the town of McKinley Steven Schueller had 81 votes for chairman. For supervisor William Miller Sr. had 82 votes and Norman Mudgett had 62 votes over Betty Ahlers with 43 votes. For clerk Sheree Olson had 64 votes to Lynne Lund with 41 votes and for treasurer Julie Siemke had 85 votes.

In the town of Medford Stanley Schmidt received 650 votes for chairman. For supervisor Nick Nice received 529 votes and Justin Olson had 352 votes over Fred Ebert with 213 votes and Brenda Duvall with 207 votes. For clerk Diane Maar had 678 votes and for treasurer Carol Pernsteiner had 692 votes. There were no write-ins for constable.

In the town of Molitor Lester Lewis received 107 votes for chairman. For Supervisor district 1 Gary Gretzinger had 118 votes and for district 2 Trent Harris had 114 votes.

In the town of Pershing Kevin Webster had 24 votes for chairman. For supervisor Walt Lang had 24 votes and Andie Ellis had 17 votes. For treasurer Kim Curtis had 25 votes.

In the town of Rib Lake, Joseph Knorn had 125 votes. For supervisor Kyle Thums had 114 votes and Brian Polacek had 56 votes over Doug Polacek who had 53 write-in votes and Matt Winnie with 29 votes. For clerk Karen Schneider had 136 votes and for treasurer JoAnn Roiger had 136 votes.

In the town of Roosevelt Gerard Nicpon had 60 votes for chairman. For supervisor Tom Dubiak had 50 votes and Cheryl Ustianowski had 38 votes over James Ertl with 36 votes and Matthew Schimke with 25 votes. For clerk Monica Knusta had 70 votes and for treasurer Roxanne Kahan had 69 votes.

In the town of Taft Darrell Thompson had 55 votes for chairman with two write-ins. For supervisor, Delano Kroeplin Sr. had 37 votes and Gerald Czubakowski had 36 votes over Kevin Knox with 26 votes and Melvin Lorenz with 24 votes. For clerk Lorrene Czubakowski had 56 votes and for treasurer Lana Knox had 58 votes.

In the town of Westboro Jeff Peterson had 94 votes with six write-ins for chairman. For supervisor Steven Thums had 96 votes and Tim Roiger had 87 votes with two write-ins. For clerk Joyce Peterson had 99 votes with four write-ins and for treasurer Debbie Filipiak had 100 votes. For district one sanitary commissioner Tim Roiger had 29 votes for a two year term and Jared Peterson had 27 votes for a six year term.

State races

Jill Underly, superintendent of Pecatonica School District, defeated former Brown Deer Schools superintendent Deborah Kerr Tuesday to become the next superintendent of public instruction. While unofficial vote tallies had Underly up by about 160,000 votes statewide at the time Kerr conceded the election Tuesday night, the story was different in Taylor County with Kerr receiving 2,707 votes to Underly’s 2,071.

In the third district court of appeals race Gregory Gill received 2,690 votes to Rick Cveykus’ 1,715 votes, this was a similar margin to how the two did across the third district with Gill winning with 123,155 (55.2%) votes to Cveykus 99,931(44.8%).

Voters cast their ballots Tuesday morning at Medford city hall. Election officials report that about 5,000 county residents voted on Tuesday, about half as many as those who voted in the November general election.BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS