Meet the candidates running for Portage County District 1 supervisor in the April 2 election
Incumbent Vinnie Miresse will face challenger Stephen Klein for the District 1 seat on the Portage County Board in the April 2 election.
Portage County supervisors serve two-year terms. All 25 Portage County Board seats are up for election this spring.
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The Stevens Point Journal asked each of the candidates to address important issues in the county and why they are running for the position.
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Stephen Klein
Residence: Stevens Point
Occupation and education: I am self-employed as a licensed contractor and tree service, managing jobs both residential and commercial.
Relevant experience: I have been serving on the board of directors for the conservation group Izaak Walton League serving as the chair for stream improvement, state division representative, and voting delegate for the national convention in 2023, where we work on issues at a grassroots level to protect our natural resources for generations to come. Currently appointed to the Stevens Point Zoning Board of Appeals, proud parent and veteran.
Vinnie Miresse
Age: 46
Residence: Stevens Point
Occupation and education: Miresse has a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and studied history, anthropology and music. He is a small business owner, focused on residential remodeling, specifically energy efficiency, building science and local materials.
Relevant experience: A three-term Portage County Board member since 2017, Vinnie has served on the Executive Operations, Judicial/General Government, Agriculture/UW-Extension and Diversity committees. He chairs the Solid Waste Management Board, the Portage County Health Care Center Committee, and is the Human Resources Committee vice-chair. A graduate of the Emergency Services Citizen Academy, Miresse learned best practices directly from law enforcement, firefighters and EMS personnel. He is also a UW-Extension Local Government Leadership Academy graduate. Vinnie has had a hand in all referendums since 2017: Fair Maps, Medical and Recreational Marijuana, Health Care Center, and Clean Water. In 2023, Miresse helped secure $500K in SLFRF funding for Farmshed.
Campaign website/Facebook page: Elect Vinnie Miresse on Facebook
Why are you running for office?
Klein: I am running for office because we need someone who is able to work with people from all backgrounds to work toward a better Portage County without the partisan divide. If a committee, whose sole purpose is diversity, gets shut down as the most divisive thing in the county, it is clearly being administered improperly. Blaming and labeling people is not how you bring a community together.
Miresse: I am running for reelection to the Portage County Board of Supervisors because I believe that politics is a vehicle for improving people’s lives. In a time of increasing skepticism about the role of government in society, my goal is to inspire optimism, create change, and deliver results to the people of Portage County.
What are residents telling you are their most important issues in the county, and how would you address them?
Klein: The Health Care Center and Courthouse/Jail are two very hot button issues at the moment. What I would like to see is someone with the temperament to be able to work alongside people they may disagree with for the solution that best suits Portage County. I have a fondness for the Portage County I grew up in, but change is ever present and it’s important to steer that change in a positive direction without getting caught up in petty fights.
Miresse: Residents are telling me they have concerns about the level of competence and the leadership vacuum Portage County is experiencing. Who’s in charge? The county executive? The County Board chair? Nobody seems to know. Residents are also deeply concerned about the lack of transparency, accountability, and open government. Leadership’s continued obfuscation of process, the exclusion of key personnel, willful disregard of their own Code of Conduct and ordinances, and political favoritism is a miscarriage of the public trust. It is time for truly open, inclusive government, radical transparency, and holding our elected officials accountable for their actions.
The future of the Portage County Justice Center and the need for a new jail has been discussed for decades? What would you like to see happen with a new jail, justice center and courthouse?
Klein: The candidate did not respond.
Miresse: Supervisors agree that for staff and inmate safety a new law enforcement and justice center is needed. Negotiations are stalled because leadership is excluding voices opposed to the same antiquated approaches leaders have presented for the past 30 years. The National Institute of Corrections (nicic.gov) has free resources for planners, yet Portage County leadership continues to ignore the experts by choosing to buy land and build a jail without first establishing a vision or incarceration philosophy. I believe Portage County needs to engage all relevant stakeholders, create a representative committee, define Portage County’s needs, and create a plan taxpayers can believe in and support.
In 2022, Portage County residents approved a referendum to build a new Portage County Health Care Center. Due to a variety of concerns and issues that has not yet happened. What would you like to see happen with the county-owned health care center?
Klein: The candidate did not respond.
Miresse: Portage County leadership has continued to stall when it comes to enacting the will of the people. Over 60% of voters support building a county-operated, high-quality skilled nursing facility. Due to post-COVID inflation, the original referendum amount was inadequate to build and operate a new facility. It made sense to ask the taxpayers to chip in via referendum. Most supervisors punted the referendum question until the November 2024 election. But with a buyer lying in wait, they figured that the PCHCC referendum would never happen in November. I worked hard for an April referendum to let the voters decide, not Portage County leadership with an agenda to kill the PCHCC and sell it to some sketchy businessman.
Clean drinking water is a top concern for many in the county. If elected, how would you work to ensure safe drinking water for all residents?
Klein: The Izaak Walton League runs likely the most successful salt watch programs in the country, which we have been expanding to nitrates, making it possible to educate landowners and municipalities. I hope to use my experience in this area to better serve this community. Here in the Midwest we take clean drinking water for granted. I have spent quite a bit of time in parts of the world where this is not the case, and it’s important to take this as a cautionary tale and not allow this to happen here.
Miresse: Portage County supervisors should set groundwater protection policy with data and science, not by denying meaningful dialogue, micromanaging staff, and gerrymandering committee assignments to create predetermined outcomes. Scientific method is paramount when dealing with groundwater problems – identify the problem and the source, treat the problem and limit the source simultaneously, and correct the behaviors. We need bold partnerships, farmer-led initiatives, scientists, and clean water advocates to develop solutions to preserve our collective natural resources. Our farming practices need study and evolution, to protect not only the water, but our proud farming heritage.
More local news: Buyer submits $1.8M offer to purchase Portage County Health Care Center
More local news: Portage County Board gives approval to purchase Plover land for possible new jail and justice center
Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA-TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Reach him at epfantz@gannett.com or connect with him on X (formerly Twitter) @ErikPfantz.
This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: April 2024 election: Portage County Board District 1 candidates
