District 1 council seat faces primary challenge

Three school board seats also have multiple contenders
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

There is one seat for the Shawano Common Council race that will require a primary and all three seats up for grabs with the Shawano School Board will also have to whittle down the lists in February before the general election in April.

There are still only two candidates in the race for mayor following Ed Whealon’s resignation — former mayor and current Alderwoman Jeanne Cronce and current school board member Bruce Milavitz. They will not have to undergo the primary. Both have submitted non-candidacy statements for their current posts, which both are up for election this year.

Cronce, who represents the first district of the city, has four people vying for her seat. Besides former Alderman Bob Kurkiewicz, Daniel Poels, Muffy Culhane and Brad Keuschel are also in the running.

The other two council races currently see no opposition, unless a write-in candidate decides to make a challenge. Seth Mailahn filed a statement of non-candidacy for his seat in the third district but Kevin Barkow has filed paperwork to run in Mailahn’s place. In the fifth district, current Alderwoman Sandy Steinke is the only one who submitted paperwork by deadline.

The deadline for submitting candidacy paperwork was 5 p.m. Jan. 5 for both the city and the school district races.

Five candidates are running for Milavitz’s seat on the school board, an at-large position representing the entire district. Chuck Dallas, currently representing the Town of Richmond on the board, is running for the at-large seat as well as his own, but challenging him are Sam Sousek, James Davel, Stephanie Bendtschneider and Robin Raber Bergeon.

Sousek and Davel are also challenging Dallas for the Town of Richmond seat.

If a candidate is successful in winning both the Town of Richmond and at-large seat, he or she will have to choose one.

There is also a seat representing the city of Shawano open for new blood, as current board president Tyler Schmidt has opted not to run for another term. Bendtschneider is seeking to take that seat but faces challenges from Jeana Winslow and Jamie Beyer.

The primary election scheduled for Feb. 18 will determine the top two candidates in the council and school board races. Those winners will continue to the general election on April 6, as will the two candidates for mayor.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com