Lena unseats Lembcke in Town of Dover
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With spring election season now in the rear-view mirror, results across Western Racine County have revealed several upsets and an unusual occurrence.
Two veteran municipal leaders are leaving their posts this month as the results shake out and another race had to be determined by a card draw and subsequent recount.
In the Town of Dover, longtime chairman Tom Lembcke lost his seat to challenger Mario Lena in a narrow victory. Lembcke has served as town chairman since 1999.
Certified results revealed Lena received 395 votes, while Lembcke garnered 384 votes.
This election season, Lena ran on a platform of reforming town policies, particularly related to issues surrounding road maintenance.
“I will work for the people,” Lena told the Westine Report just before the election. “If I see a problem, I will work to fix it, not hire an engineering firm and send you the bill.”
A change in Waterford
Challenger Jim Schneider, a trustee on the Village Board the past two years, unseated Waterford Village President Tom Roanhouse.
According to the village’s certified election results, Schneider received 394 votes. Roanhouse garnered 336 votes.
Roanhouse has served on the Village Board for 15 years, initially as a trustee. Since 2011, he has served as village president.
Schneider joined the board in summer 2015 after his elected colleagues appointed him to the position to assume an unexpected vacancy.
This election season, as he vied for the leadership role on the board, Schneider touted his 50 years of education and experience in business to grow Waterford’s retail and commercial areas.
“I can assist in making Waterford a destination, and a place to work, live and recreate,” Schneider told the Waterford Post the week before the election.
Winner by draw
The card draw, meanwhile, occurred in the Village of Rochester and was used as a means of settling a tie vote for a trustee position that was up for grabs.
Six candidates threw their hats into the ring for three seats on the Rochester Village Board.
Incumbent Gary Beck was the top-vote getter in the race with 351 ballots cast in his favor, while fellow incumbent Nick Ahlers received the second highest vote total of 340 ballots.
Determining who would fill the third open seat presented a unique situation. After the polls closed, and the ballots were counted, Robert Gerber and Douglas Webb each received 256 votes apiece.
To break the tie vote, a card draw took place April 6, and Webb won it. But after the card draw took place, Gerber exercised his right to have a recount performed.
“(The recount) was performed (Monday, April 10) at the county courthouse by myself and four election workers,” Rochester Clerk-Treasurer Betty Novy wrote in an email. “The results were the same. Douglas Webb was declared the winner of the third trustee position.”
Neither Gerber nor Webb currently sits on the Village Board.
The bottom two vote getters in the Rochester trustee race were Mark Tamblyn (193 votes) and Thomas Beck (192 votes). Tamblyn and Beck also do not currently have seats on the board.
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