Five candidates running for Dorchester board
By Nathaniel Underwood
Five candidates will be running for three available seats on the Dorchester Village Board next Tuesday, April 1.
The candidates include former trustee Daniella Schauer, current village president Kurt Schwoch, and incumbents Clarence Klempke and Dennis Reynolds. Trustee Keith Lageman will be also running as a write-in candidate for trustee, as well as running for village president (see story on page 9).
The Tribune-Phonograph contacted the candidates before the April 1 election to ask them to give their reasons why they believe voters should elect them and where they stood on important issues in the village. All candidates were given the opportunity to answer the same questions and the responses are below.
Why are you running for board president/trustee?
Klimpke: “I’ve lived in town since 1957 and the last four or five years since I’ve been on the board. I’ve tried to help the people in town, to keep taxes and things as low as I could, and that’s the thing I’m interested in. I’m interested in the people in town here, to do the best I can do for them.”
Schauer: “ I’m running for a position on the board because I care about how things are done in the village and how our money is spent.”
Schwoch: “I’ve been on the board for 11 years and I feel that there are still things that can be done.”
Reynolds: “I think some changes need to be made. There were a lot of things that went on that shouldn’t have went on. Hopefully I can make a difference. I don’t know if that’s going to be possible, but we’ve got to have some changes made. Whether that’s going to work I don’t know.”
What would you say makes you the best candidate for the position?
Klimpke: “I think the best thing for me is that I speak my mind, speak out to what I think is right and I stand up for what I think is right for the village. I hope the people are satisfied with the job that I have done as a board member, and I appreciate the people that would offer their votes for me. If they do vote for me, and if I do get elected back on the board, I will do my best to work in [the village’s] best interest.”
Schauer: “I feel my past experience on the board makes me a good candidate for being on the board and also my time spent living in the village. I also have volunteered for things in the village like the Veterans Memorial Wall celebration and the 150th Dorchester Days celebration.”
Schwoch: “Well, I know what’s currently going on in the village and the things that we need to fix and the things that are going smoothly. As president and a member of the board, I’ve always tried very hard to listen to people, because it’s important to get everyone’s opinion and to be open minded about things, because none of us are anywhere near right on everything.”
Reynolds: “I’ve been asked by quite a few people that I should be running and this year taxes took a big hike, so I thought maybe I should get involved and see what’s going on. The tax hike I knew was coming over the years, because we hadn’t had one, but it all came at one time. A lot of people don’t understand that and there’s a lot of people that are upset. I know everybody on the board and I’m not here to create waves, but maybe I am. I don’t know, we’ll have to see.”
What do you see as one of the pressing challenges in the village and what steps would you take to address it?
Klimpke: “My main thing right now is our budget. We are, like all small villages, strapped for money and we have to watch our dollars really close. That’s the main thing that I, being on the board, what I’d like to try to do is to try to keep the budget in line so that way we don’t have to raise taxes.”
“As you know, last year we had an awful raise in taxes. I was definitely against that, but there was not too much I could do about that at the time. We had to do it at that time. But that’s one thing that I would really like to see done is to make sure that people in town don’t have to pay an exorbitant amount in taxes.”
Schauer: “I feel one of the pressing things in the village is how our money is spent. I feel if you don’t have the money to spend then you don’t spend it and you save and budget for things.”
Schwoch: “There’s a lot of things that need to be done, and you take them on as they come up and then you move on. We’ve got things pretty much under control for now.”
“I’d like to see more small businesses move into town. As village president, I’ve always been working to try to bring businesses in and to expand our industrial parks. I’d like to see us get a TIF district going that would bring in new housing.”
Reynolds: “I’ve been to a few board meetings, and while I don’t know exactly what I can do, there’s different things out there. Our maintenance crew, I mean, they do a really good job, but now we’ve got equipment that is starting to need to be replaced. But my big question is, where does this money come from? You can’t keep borrowing and borrowing with no means of how you are going to pay it back.”
“That’s why our taxes took off. There’s a fund they have to make a huge payment on. It’s here, now it’s got to be done. Now what are going to do? Well, they have to up taxes. And I can see where that’s going to happen again with the members we have. We need to have a few changes, we got to get it more balanced out. We need more arguing back and forth.”
Dorchester residents recently saw a significant increase to their property taxes. What do you think the board needs to do in the future to help avoid similar increases from occurring?
Klimpke: “I believe that the board as a whole has to sit down and recognize what is going on in the village, a whole lot more than what has been done in the past. I’m not blaming anybody for what was done in the past, but I think there were some things that were done in the past that weren’t done the way they should have done and that is one of the main reasons why we got nailed with this exorbitant tax increase this past year.”
Schauer: “I think the board needs to pay more attention to how they are spending money to avoid more tax increases, rather than just do something because it would be nice to have or want. And to look at all options before going with one plan.”
Schwoch: “It’s a temporary thing and it’ll go back down. Obviously, we won’t get into this same situation again if we don’t have another TIF district. Boards change and we need to do a better job of historically marking things. This doesn’t mean that TIF districts are bad, it just means that they are over a long period and boards change and you just need to keep continuity with your people a little bit. I’ve been there 11 years and the TIF district started nine years before I got there.”
“You feel that you are doing well by not increasing taxes when you are able to get everything out of budget. Well, then something comes up and you can’t. Then, in the meantime, you haven’t taken out any loans out there. You’ve paid cash for everything, so you can’t increase your tax rate. And that’s what we did for a long time. We worked very hard to take everything out of pocket, but then all of a sudden, you can’t.”
Reynolds: “Cut some of these expenses and watch what we spend. I feel they are overspending on a lot of stuff that they shouldn’t be.”
“For starters, the Memorial Hall. That’s costing the taxpayers a lot of money. If they only knew what that building is costing us, I think there would be more people running for office. But I’m not taking it out just on them, that’s just an example. There’s other stuff that’s going on in town that money is being spent on things that it shouldn’t be.”
“There’s only so much in this little town, so you can’t be overspending. You have to live within your means. I look at other communities — take Stetsonville and Centennial Hall. Their taxpayers don’t pay anything towards that, that’s self funding. Why isn’t [Memorial Hall] self funding? Hopefully I can make it better for that part of it.”
