Rice will again seek town chairman seat

Several other offices have no challengers as deadline approaches

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff Writer

At least one local institution will seek a return to elected office.

Ralph Rice, who has been battling ongoing health issues, said he is doing well and will run again for Town Chairman.

“I’ve been getting along OK. And everybody says I should do this,” Rice said.

Also running again is Town Board member Rick Isaacson, who will be seeking his third term.

Meanwhile, in the City of Burlington, at least two people have taken out papers to replace a pair of aldermen who are stepping down.

While first district Alderman Ed Johnson and second district’s Peter Hintz announced earlier this month that they would seek re-election, third district Alderman Steve Rauch and fourth district Alderman Katie Simenson both said they would not run again.

Mayor Bob Miller said Wednesday that Jon Schultz – a current member of the City Police and Fire Commission – had taken out papers, and Schultz confirmed through email that he would be seeking election.

If elected, Schultz will need to resign from the Police and Fire Commission – something that has already been discussed with him by Miller.

Miller said another candidate, Todd Baumann, had taken out paper for the fourth district position vacated by Simenson.

With those two spots being vacated, that would mean four of the eight aldermanic positions are or will be filled with first-time elected officials. In April, Tom Preusker (third district) and Ruth Dawidziak (second district) filled empty spots.

“There’s always a learning curve,” said Miller, who added that new members are brought up to speed quickly. “Every year, though, we’ll do this.

“It’s a learning curve, but we try to minimize it as much as we can.”

For the Burlington Area School District School Board, current member Larry Anderson will seek re-election, while Scott Barrett has said he won’t.

BASD Superintendent Peter Smet said he would have a full list of candidates by Jan. 2.

Deadline looms

Prospective candidates for local office have until Jan. 2 to file papers for City Council, Town Board or School Board seats. City and town candidates must obtain nomination papers and seek a sufficient number of signatures to qualify for the ballot while School Board hopefuls must simply file a Declaration of Candidacy. Interested people should contact the clerk of the respective agency.