Reapportionment will be in play for spring County Board election
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
Local voters will have a chance to elect a slimmed-down Racine County Board this spring, but before you’ll be able to do that you’ll have to figure out what district you now live in.
When the board approved reducing the number of supervisors from 23 to 21 last May, and then formally approved reapportionment last fall in response to the 2010 census, it created new districts for most county residents.
Essentially, the county eliminated one district on the east side of the county and one on the west side.
The issue of reapportionment rises to the forefront this month because this is when potential candidates for the board can circulate nomination papers to seek one of the 21 two-year seats that will appear on the April 3 ballot.
Mike Dawson, one of two supervisors who represent the Burlington area, said he supported the reduction in board size as a money-saving initiative at a time when the economy demanded it.
He said by eliminating two positions, the board created a potential savings of $37,600 annually. That total includes annual salaries of $4,800 each, optional health insurance that costs the county $17,000 each and mileage reimbursement of roughly $1,000 each.
The board considered three options – leaving the number of supervisors at 23 or reducing it to 21 or 19.
Dawson said he doesn’t support drastically reducing the size of the board.
“If they start doing too much of that, it would become a full-time job (for the remaining supervisors),” he said.
Many of the reapportioned districts could have familiar faces seeking the seats. The reapportionment process makes it possible for most of the incumbents to seek re-election without opposition from another incumbent.
That was one of the goals of the process, according to county officials, in order to retain a certain level of continuity and experience on the County Board.
Dawson, who is running for the 21st District seat, acknowledged the process creates some uncertainty for board members and voters, but said he believes it’s beneficial in the long run.
“There’s a little aggravation, but that’s part of the deal,” he said.
Incumbent Tom Pringle, who will seek the 20th District seat, said he felt the reapportionment process “went very, very smoothly.”
There are only two districts where incumbents will face each other should they both decide to run – the new 9th District where supervisors Pamela Zenner-Richards and James Rooney both reside, and the new 13th District where Supervisors Mark Gleason and Joseph Bellante III reside. Bellante, of Wind Lake, was appointed to the board last June to succeed his father, who died unexpectedly earlier this year.
The 13th District is a sprawling, mostly rural expanse that stretches across the middle of the county from Mt. Pleasant on the east into Caledonia, Raymond, Dover and Norway. Bellante lives on the extreme west end of the district in Norway and Gleason lives on the extreme east end in Mt. Pleasant.
In addition to the 13th District, the new west end districts (see the map that accompanies this story) and the incumbents eligible to run in them are:
• 16th District, which includes Union Grove, Kansasville and much of the Town of Yorkville. Peter Hansen, 4728 57th Drive, Sturtevant, is the incumbent living in the district.
• 17th District, which includes the northern two-thirds of the Town of Raymond, as well as portions of the Town of Norway and Caledonia. Robert Grove, 8024 Nicholson Road, Caledonia, is the incumbent living in the district.
• 18th District, which includes the Village of Waterford, the northeastern corner of the Village of Rochester and the southwestern corner of the Town of Dover. Gilbert Bakke, 522 Oak Lodge Road, Waterford, is the incumbent who lives in the district.
• 19th District, which encompasses the Town of Waterford and includes the extreme northwest corner of Norway. Jeff Halbach, 31610 High Drive, Burlington, is the incumbent living in the district.
• 20th District, which includes the northern portion of the city and town of Burlington and the southwestern portion of the Village of Rochester. Pringle, 340 Smith St., Burlington, is the incumbent.
• 21st District, which includes the southern portion of the city and town of Burlington. Dawson, 224 N. Kane St., Burlington, is the incumbent.
To view the full county reapportionment map online, visit the county’s website (http://www.racineco.com/countyclerk/reapportionment.aspx) and click on the map proposal for Sept. 7.
Additional information on the reapportionment process and the spring election is available from Racine County Clerk Wendy Christensen at 730 Wisconsin Ave., Racine.
Potential candidates for County Board have until Jan. 3 at 5 p.m. to collect signatures and file nomination papers with the county clerk. If more than two candidates seek office in a single district, a primary election will be held Feb. 21 to narrow the field.
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