By Kim McDarison

Seven applicants on Tuesday came before five members of the Whitewater Common Council after which the body appointed two from the pool to fill vacant seats.

Carol McCormick, a former councilwoman, was appointed Tuesday to fill an at-large seat that will come due for reelection in April, at which time two candidates, Keith Staebler and Greg Majkrzak, will vie for the open seat.

Both candidates were among those who stepped forward Tuesday to be considered for the appointment to the same seat for which they will soon run.

The at-large seat is the only one bringing a council-related contested race to the April ballot.

The name of two other candidates will appear in April. They are Brian Schanen, who is running unopposed in Aldermanic District 4 and Orin Smith, who is running unopposed in Aldermanic District 2.

Also appointed Tuesday was Patrick Singer, who will serve the remainder of a term vacated by former Councilman David Stone who resigned from his Aldermanic District 1 seat in December.

The seat will next appear on the election ballot in April of 2025.

Members of the common council serve for two-year terms.

While neither of the at-large April candidates were appointed to the vacant seat, both answered a series of eight questions that were posed to all of the applicants — five competing for the vacant at-large seat, and two competing for the Aldermanic District 1 seat.

For voters heading to the polls in April, the responses to the eight questions from the two at-large candidates offers insight into their views.

Responses from the two candidates, Staebler and Majkrzak, to the eight questions posed on Tuesday follow.

During Tuesday’s meeting, applicants were given 90 seconds to answer each questions.

Staebler

In advance of the questions, Staebler offered a brief statement, saying: “I’m Keith Staebler. I’m currently running for city council member at large.”

Referencing statements made by applicant Joe Kromholz, who answered the questions before him, and expressed an opinion that he believed candidates running in a contested race in April should not be making application for an appointment to that same seat, Staebler said: “And I know he has an opinion, and he’s entitled to it. Everybody’s entitled to their opinion.”

“I want to make sure that a qualified person is gonna take the at-large position and the sooner we get a qualified person in here the better. And if I tend to be the most qualified person, then so be it. And if not, that’s for you guys (seated council members) to decide. We’re still gonna settle it in an election coming up soon.

Q: What is your relevant educational background, professional experience or other life events that you feel qualify you for this position?

A: First of all, I’ve lived in Whitewater for 43 years; moved here when I was 10; family started a local business. We ran it for 30-something years on the east side, … known as Frosty. In between the bypass, and three years outta five years of road construction, and me getting cancer … it’s not here anymore, but a long story short, I have a lot of local business experience. I have a bachelor of science and business management degree. I’ve studied finance, I’ve studied management. I understand leadership. That’s my specialty is leadership. I’ve worked for Leadership Management International — done a lot of corporate training in that regard.

I also have a masters in business administration, with a focus on finance, leadership, and strategy and innovation.

I’m also halfway through a doctorate degree, which I didn’t put in my application, but it’s in strategy and innovation as well.

As far as other life events, I was co-chairman of the Whitewater Fourth of July Committee for multiple years; been on the committee, helped initiate a bunch of fantastic changes; helped do fundraising and things, and helped ensure that our facilities, our festival, which remained when others were losing theirs. And so I understand the whole community. I understand how to live in this community, how to run a business in this community, and financial applications. And I’ve had friends that would love to live here that aren’t here because they couldn’t find places to live here.

My kids have gone through school here. So I’ve gone through just about every experience that a person could possibly go through in the city of Whitewater … which makes me the most qualified out of most people.

Q: What does Whitewater need more of?

A: (Alluding again to Kromholz) Staebler said: I think he mentioned affordable housing, but I wanna be a little bit more specific on that: I think housing that relates to families; more family housing. We certainly don’t need more low income housing. We certainly don’t need more student housing in this community. We need more housing that would allow young families to raise their kids here. We need more tax base; things of that nature. I think we need to develop properties and things that develop tax base that then we can now use to develop services, which make our city even better. And the more people that help pay for those services, the better our services go.

The more we attract businesses — it all starts by creating more and more possibilities. We used to lead the field with our business park, and then other communities decided to catch up to us, and when we first came out with the CDA, we led the field, and now, all of a sudden other communities are, in my opinion, kind of kicking our butt, and people are — we’re having to bus them in so they can come to work. We need to fix that. I think that’s something that needs to change.

We also need more destination things for Whitewater.

I think we need to have more things, you know, like Treyton’s Field of Dreams. We have the aquatic center — something other than the university as the destination, because people come and they leave. They don’t stay for that. I think we need, as a community, things that draw people to our community. Something other than the Fourth of July. I know that Chuck (Mills) has been involved with that for a million years, and I’ve been involved with it. I think we need to have more things that draw people to our community so they can see how awesome it is.

Q: Why are you interested in serving on the common council?

A: I grew up here 43 years. My kids have gone, my youngest just graduated with honors, valedictorian, gave the speech … both are at college. My oldest is about to graduate college, and now I have some time as an empty nester.

If you want to complain about something that’s out there, you better either throw your hat in the ring and do something active about it or shut the heck up. Well, I’m not one to shut up. I want to be actively involved and help my community. I grew up here.

I’ve seen Whitewater at its best. I’ve seen — well, I don’t know if it’s ever been worst, ‘cause I think it’s always been a great place to live. That’s why I’m still here. I haven’t left. I love the city of Whitewater and I’d like to see it shine.

We’re at the center of everything and we could be the hub of the whole region, and show other communities how to do that. I’d like to be part of that.

Q: What is your prior political experience, if any?

A: Well, according to (former city clerk) Michele Smith, I was the first tie ever to happen in the city of Whitewater when I ran for (Aldermanic) District 1 a million years ago. It got determined by a card flip. I know we’ve come close with two votes before, but I’ve run for city council in the past and then had young kids and never did that. But as far as politics go, I don’t know if a political is an advantage in this situation because that means that I’m pre-polished with all kinds of pre-ideas coming it, trying to determine what’s going to happen. I don’t have a party. I’m an independent individual that wants the best for the community. So from that perspective, I’m not politically active in any regard. I’ve just been involved with community organizations like the Whitewater Fourth of July Committee.

(He noted that his daughter was the first girl to letter for the Whitewater High School Woman’s Wrestling Team. Today, she is wrestling in college.)

I’ve been involved in youth sports for at least 10, 12 years or so. I’ve been involved with a lot of community things, and you can’t tell me youth sports aren’t political … you can never make everybody happy in that arena — so keeping the peace — and, you know, trying to be a coach in that environment, I guess I’m very politically savvy.

Q: How do you plan to actively engage with the community to understand their concerns and preferences?

A: Well, thank God for social media. I would certainly put myself out there and have an active social media campaign — make it easy to get a hold of me. I’ve already set up an email and I’m working on getting Facebook, and all that other, what, Twitter … I don’t know. I need my kids home so they can help me set that stuff up, but I’m sure I’ll get some help in that regard. But I would think that there’s plenty of ways where even the haters can get involved with you in that regard ‘cause I know there’s plenty of those. You’re never gonna make everybody happy, but I think social media is a very good place to do so.

And I live here. It’s not like I can’t be made accountable. I know he (again citing Kromholz) mentioned having meetings and things of that nature, which are all fantastic. There’s all kinds of community activity events. I know the Chili Cook-off is coming up and I know I’m hoping to throw my hat in the ring with a pot of chili to see if I can win.

How can I get more involved? Those would be the types of things I would do.

It’s not rocket science. It’s just making yourself available and then listening, and I think the key there is leadership. No organization can exceed the skills of its leaders, and if, as a leader, I’m open … I think we can make a change.

Q: How do you plan to ensure transparency and accountability in the decision-making processes of the common council?

A: I think there’s a whole bunch of rules ‘cause you keep hearing all these different things and I think the city council should be more transparent. I think that we need more active involvement. I think people that are being affected by the decisions of the council need to be brought in and be made more available.

All too often, I think you guys are on an island and you’re left alone and you don’t realize what the constituents want or don’t want. I think that as much involvement as possible before decisions are being made, and then obviously, listening, and then, hopefully, having the insight and the foresight or hindsight, I should say, to listen to the people that the policies are affecting, and then adjusting. I know (the late councilman) Jim Allen made a thing with the little go-carts going through town because he found out that people were being affected by a previous ordinance. Well, let’s make a change. If we need to make a positive change, let’s listen to the things that need to be done.

Q: How will you approach budgetary decisions to ensure fiscal responsibility while meeting the needs of the community?

A: I think I’m a socially conscience person in regards to I want everyone taken care of. I don’t want anybody left behind in that regard, but my favorite question is: how the heck are we gonna pay for it? And I think we need to have balance. I think we need to weigh in balance: how can we affect and help the most number of people in our community, especially those in need? How do we help people through various programs and get them into the system and get them working, and get them functioning, and getting them involved in the process, so that they can move forward? Those are the things that I’m very passionate about. I’ve done a lot of work with church charities and things to help people, and get them running and get them back on their feet after the fact, after life hits the fan, so to speak, so I would like to see that.

I think budgets are there. We can’t just — were aren’t, unfortunately, allowed to print money. I wish we could at the local level, so we have to stick within our means, and we can’t out-price our neighborhoods so that the average person can’t live here, so that we can’t attract the people necessary to start the whole engine and keep the whole thing moving. We kind of gotta keep a balance in that regard.

I would have to think that from a fiscal responsibility, it’s just keeping the budget where it needs to be … and then through a successful bidding, and price adjusting and doing what we have to do, and cutting costs were necessary.

Q: What strategies do you believe will attract businesses and promote economic growth in Whitewater?

A: I’ve asked this question of a lot of people, and I think this is a fair question, but what reason does someone have to come to Whitewater? If you take the university out of the picture … what reason do you have to come to Whitewater? You’ve got Treyton’s Field of Dreams, which I think is awesome. I supported that greatly when that came through. You got people coming to town for tournaments. We got the aquatic center, which I think is a really nice community resource that I know a lot of people come from out of town to come over. We got the Fourth of July Festival, which is one week a year, that we get like 15,000 people show up for our parade. But during the rest of the year, what do we do to bring people to our community? I think that we, as a community, need to focus on what can we do? I think of Lake Delavan, when they dredged it out. Now, all of a sudden the whole Highway 50 corridor’s now developed. They got shopping, and you know what? Every now and then I drive my butt over to Delavan to shop. And why? Because they have everything I need in one little spot. Whitewater, if we could figure out how to do something like that, where we could become a destination, I think creating a destination that’s not university tied, would be a very good source.

Pretty much all the housing around has been bought up and turned into student housing, which, I’m not against student housing, but there’s not a lot of residential housing, and what do we need to create more of a destination in our community? And I know that’s probably what the CDA talks about a lot as well, but I think that’s the most important thing.

Majkrzak

Q: What is your relevant educational background, professional experience or other life events that you feel qualify you for this position?

A: I’m a mechanical engineer by training. I have my MBA, and I recently completed by PMP, Professional Project Management.

I’ve been on the board of directors for our (co-op) grocery company here locally. I was on the first board of directors, and I think I was elected twice.

(Majkrzak said he stepped down from the co-op’s board after he became a council member. He was appointed to a term on the council and was elected to another, he noted.)

I ran for election for Aldermanic District 5.

I’ve volunteered most of my life in different organizations.

I started a nonprofit organization when I was in college in Missouri. I volunteered for Meals on Wheels when I was working in Beloit.

Q: What does Whitewater need more of?

A: I know we’ve had a lot of conversation and discussion on this tonight — I think housing. I think, having moved here eight years ago, my wife took a job at the university, we tried to buy a home. We tried to move to Whitewater for years and we couldn’t find a home that wasn’t huge, and needed a lot of work, too expensive or was too small or a rental. We were lucky to eventually buy a lot in my neighborhood where I’m living now and then build a home. So I think that will attract people moving here.

I do think businesses are needed as well to bring those people. A grocery store — I know we got an ALDI coming. I shop at ALDI in Janesville. It doesn’t have everything, so I think there’s definitely more room for continued growth here.

Q: Why are you interested in serving on the common council?

A: Well, I was appointed and elected. I only left, or I didn’t run for reelection, because I had taken a new job with Emmi Roth as a technical manager and I was responsible for moving a lot of equipment in and starting up and building a maintenance team. I knew I couldn’t commit the time that I needed to during that project. That project is currently wrapping up, which is why I am running for election at large this April.

Q: What is your prior political experience, if any?

A: I sat on different committees while I was here, obviously, as a council member. I chaired the Finance Committee and I was vice chair of the Alcohol Licensing Committee.

Q: How do you plan to actively engage with the community to understand their concerns and preferences?

A: What I found is, as being a … council member, is just being available; appearing as available. The very interested people will reach out to you. They’ll find you; they’ll email you, they’ll call you. They’ll talk to you after meetings (and) being available in the community, whether it’s a Tuesday Market, Fourth of July festivities, there are different parades, and then there are just different social groups within town. Social media is big, but I would say social media doesn’t always give you the best information. There are a lot of complaints, not a lot of solutions.

Q: How do you plan to ensure transparency and accountability in the decision-making processes of the common council?

A: I think this is easy. That’s something I spoke a lot of when I was on council. We talk about what we are going to do. We do it in open session; we limit closed sessions. I know it’s — the perception is not good, especially when closed session go very long. I think we’ve been pretty good with our agenda recently, for the recent couple of years, but then, sticking to it, not making last minute changes. I spoke a lot about our 72-hour policy our city has. Either we stick to it or we abolish it. I think we should stick to it. And I think (city manager) John (Weidl) has done a lot of good work in getting that agenda up, and there, and having a process within staff, and then council members following it.

Q: How will you approach budgetary decisions to ensure fiscal responsibility while meeting the needs of the community?

A: I was on the Finance Committee for two years on council, you know, working with the department heads, understanding their needs, open discussion with the public, getting their feedback. I know the one frustration that I would say across all my council and committees is the lack of engagement from the public. So, trying to make that more available. I know we have our cable channel working again; we can stream online.

I like in our ordinances how we can search by word like a PDF. I’d like to see something like that done with our minutes. I know sometimes when I go back and look or when a decision was made or comment made it’s hard sometimes to find that date and go through those. That would be something I would like to investigate further … having that more searchable; something that you could go back and easily find ‘cause people ask questions on social media when I’m engaging with them, whether it’s through different groups here in Whitewater, I do like to give answers or point to where the facts are or the information is. Sometimes, it’s a little more effort than I’m willing to give on a casual basis.

Q: What strategies do you believe will attract businesses and promote economic growth in Whitewater?

A: Being friendly to work with, easy to understand the permitting process, easy permitting process, consistency in what we require for our different businesses coming in. I know having been on council, you know, we’ve, as a council, spent a lot of time, probably more than I would say is appropriate, on building structure and stuff like that.

I would say if that’s a requirement that we’re gonna have, we have it in our building codes and we’re consistent; we follow it there so they (developers) know what they’re getting into; they have an idea of the cost.