One Town of Sheboygan board race is contested. Meet the candidates here.
SHEBOYGAN — Two Town of Sheboygan board supervisor roles are up for election this April. Only one of those positions has a contested race.
Tim Winkel is the sole candidate for the position of Supervisor No. 1.
In the race for Supervisor No. 3, incumbent Pat Schmidt seeks reelection as Randy Blindauer challenges.
The elected candidates will serve two-year terms.
Sheboygan Press asks candidates in contested races question about themselves and issues they wish to address to provide voters with more information ahead of elections. Blindauer and Schmidt’s answers are below and have been lightly edited for grammar and style.
Full list - Sheboygan County candidates: Here's who's moving on to the general election after Tuesday's primary in Sheboygan County
Meet the candidates
Name: Randy Blindauer
Age: 62
Occupation: Retired
Education: Bachelor’s in political science, UW-Milwaukee; two semesters shy of bachelor's in architecture at UW-Milwaukee; several development and career advancement seminars and courses
Experience: All past life experiences including being a husband, father and grandfather, education, past positions including director of sales, sales director, business development leader, director of business unit, product management, project leader, lean (efficiency/continuous improvement) training and experience, five-plus years on the Horace Mann Site Based Management team, 10-plus years teaching Junior Achievement at Horace Mann, jury foreperson, and currently serve on the Town of Sheboygan Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, Board of Review, Sanitary District No. 2 & No. 3, and part-time/seasonal lawn cutter for Town of Sheboygan.
Why are you running for office? I’ve been in the town of Sheboygan 50-plus years. The town of Sheboygan is a great place to live, raise a family, work and relax, along with having great amenities and low taxes. Additionally, it’s safe and growing. I have experienced its growth from a small rural agriculture community to what it is today; a well-organized, thought-out township and great community. My intent is to assist the town with continuing that direction, ensuring we maintain and improve our community/lifestyle while at the same time keeping the taxes low and our neighborhoods safe.
What makes you the best candidate? Over the years, a significant amount of wisdom has been gained along with my unique life path, knowledge and experience, which gives me, what I believe to be the best perspective to help and assist the town of Sheboygan in its efforts as it moves forward. It’s important to understand and assist the needs of the town, to serve, and do what is best for the town’s residence.
What is the most important issue you want to address? Sustainability! The town of Sheboygan is a great place to live. It’s safe, clean and friendly. We have good schools and beautiful parks. We have nice restaurants and places to shop. Our growth over the past 30-plus years has been organized and controlled. We have low taxes along with a small community feeling, but large-town amenities and services. Now, as we move forward, we need to keep that small community feeling as we advance into the next several decades. We need to continue to be disciplined, thoughtful and deliberate as we move forward.
How would you approach addressing the above-mentioned issue? Continue to strategically plan and make decisions that sometimes may be tough, which reflect the town of Sheboygan’s best interests. The decisions and direction, needs to be from an overall perspective and not from just one’s personal view or a small groups desire. Consideration has to be from an overall perspective and what’s best for the town, both short term as well as long term.
Name: Pat Schmidt
Occupation: Retired from 20-plus years of service to Sheboygan County as judicial assistant to the judges and deputy clerk in the County Clerk’s Office. My work in the County Clerk’s Office gave me the interest in government.
Education: North High School graduate
Experience: I am running for the office of Town Supervisor No. 3 as the incumbent. I was appointed to a one-year term by Chairman Hein upon a resignation. In 2022, I was elected to a two-year term.
Why are you running for office? What makes you the best candidate? The town continues to grow by adding North Town, subdivisions and restaurants to the tax roll.
What is the most important issue you want to address? How would you approach addressing the above-mentioned issue? Town growth is important to keep the tax roll increasing, but we need to be careful to not get too large to take away the feel of the small town. A town police department is presently being researched, but the decision will go to the taxpayers in a referendum.
Have a story tip or public interest concern? Contact Sam Bailey at sgbailey@gannett.com or 573-256-9937. To stay up to date on her stories and other news, follow her on X (Twitter) @SamarahBailey.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Town of Sheboygan board candidates talk growth and small-town appeal
