St. Germain has shortage of town supervisor, clerk and treasurer candidates

There’s a shortage of candidates for the St. Germain town board in this April’s election and it was a topic of discussion at a meeting of the town board on Jan. 23. The town is facing a major turnover in leadership this spring as town chairman Tom Christensen, supervisors Jim Swenson and Kalisa Mortag, town clerk June Vogel and treasurer Jeanna Vogel have all decided not to seek re-election.

The deadline for filing candidacy paperwork was Jan. 7. and former town supervisor John Vojta will run  for the town chairmanship, Peggy Nimz for the town supervisor seat currently occupied by Swenson and deputy treasurer Jenn Jones declared her candidacy for the treasurer’s office.

At the moment, all three will be unopposed. 

No one, however, has thrown a hat in the ring for the office of town clerk or the town supervisor position currently occupied by Mortag. 

“This is uncharted territory,” Swenson said during the meeting. 

The deadline to file as a write-in candidate is March 28.

“So there’s still time,” said supervisor Brian Cooper.

“There is still time for someone to turn in a write-in but the question tonight in talking about it is is there something this board could do to help get the word out?” Christensen said. “Something like that? So that’s why I put it onto the agenda, to see if there’s something we could come up with that would be helpful for our town to try and get some folks.”

He asked specifically about the clerk’s position first.

“June, will you tell us what you are willing to do — or not do — as far as that last Monday at midnight, when you’re no longer the clerk — after that time-period — as to your involvement in possibly training and helping with getting the job done if there’s absolutely nobody there?” Christensen asked.  “What are you willing to do or not do?”

“I think that’s going to be based on who the candidate is and if there’s somebody there or not,” Vogel replied. “And me saying what I’m willing to do or not willing to do might discourage somebody from running because they might think ‘Oh, she might do this, so ...  I’d prefer not to say that.”

She did say she’d be willing to answer questions and help with training “but there’s a lot more involved than that.”

“Or you could get somebody who has experience and doesn’t want to sit down with me,” Vogel said. 

“Does anybody on the board — or anybody in the audience — have any ideas or suggestions as to what we could possibly do as a town?” Christensen asked.

Suggestions were made regarding sending press releases to local newspapers and posting messages electronically through media such as Constant Contact and Facebook.

“I think we should hit every channel of communication to the maximum extent that we can,” said town supervisor Patric Niggemeier.

“This position could benefit that stay-at-home mom who wants to contribute to the family,” June Vogel said specifically about the office of clerk. 

“Has anybody come up and talked to you at all about it, and just went ‘Oh: no, thanks’?” Cooper asked Vogel.

“Five people,” she replied. “One person thought I only (helped with community center) fobs and meeting minutes.”

Vogel’s comment elicited laughter from most of the board members.

“And I asked them to come in and talk about it,” she continued. “It’s nothing I want to do via email or on a phone call or by text. I want to have an in-person conversation. I have a list that I present to them. I offer to let them review it and call me back if they come up with more questions. I think as they go out the door, it goes in the trash. We thought we had one, but it just didn’t pan out.”

“If we have no one — come April, after the elections — what’s our options?” Cooper asked. “The board would sit down and appoint a supervisor. Would they do the same thing with a clerk? Otherwise, we hire it out?”

“I don’t know,” Vogel replied.

Appointment option

“I still think that position (of clerk) should be a hired position and not an elected position,” Mortag said.  “We need someone who knows what they’re doing and could have longevity in the job ... and people don’t want to take on a job that they can’t be guaranteed they can be in two years because they might get kicked out just because someone doesn’t want to vote for them.”

She felt that the issue — whether or not to have the town clerk an appointed position — should go to the town electors. 

“That will be a decision for the next board to do,” Christensen replied. “We did try that twice and it was shot down.”

“And that wouldn’t take place until the next election cycle, though,” Cooper observed.

“It would have to go on a ballot and the next election wouldn’t be until February of 2026,” Vogel said. 

“I’m just saying that this as an elected position is not a good idea,” Mortag reiterated.  “You could potentially have someone every two years switching out of the position and never figuring out the job.”

That, she said, would be a disaster. 

“You can hire someone who actually has experience and you can end up with one person on the ballot who has no experience whatsoever,” Mortag said. 

“The other thing, too, about hiring is that you can then go outside of the town of St. Germain,” Christensen said, adding an elected clerk is to be a town resident.

Cooper and Swenson both inquired as to whether a professional firm could be hired to fulfill the clerk’s duties.

“It’s more than just payroll and paying the bills,” Vogel cautioned.  “You still need someone who’s doing all the elections, taking the minutes, doing all the records.”

“What if there was an adjustment to clerk and treasurer (salaries)?” Christensen asked. “Would we have time to do that to be effective at this time?”

“I don’t think that would be the answer,” Vogel replied.

“I don’t know, either,” Christensen admitted.

“That would be the wrong reason,” Swenson said in regard to the potential use of a pay increase to attract a recruit to the office.

“I agree,” Vogel said.  “That would be taking it for the wrong reason. It isn’t a position you take because of what you get paid. You want to be able to help your community; you want to build relationships; you want to be there.”

Mortag asked Vogel whether it would be feasible to recruit a deputy clerk and/or treasurer.

“Should we be looking for someone to fill that now, too?” Mortag asked. “I just question whether one of the five people that you spoke to would have been more comfortable in that position. Maybe they didn’t want to run for yours but they’d be interested in a deputy position.”

“I don’t have a deputy and now look at what’s happening,” Vogel replied. “And it’s not for a lack of trying.”

“We’ve really got to have the main person first,” Christensen said.  “It’s really up to the clerk and treasurer to find (a deputy) and it’s the board that needs to appropriate the funds in order to pay that. Is it important to do after the boards change?  Yeah, I think so.  I think it’s a good idea to have a deputy, because you don’t know what could happen with a clerk or treasurer.”  

“We should let the newspapers know that there could be a write-in potentially still but we should come up with a possible plan that could be put in place — some steps — just in case,” Mortag said.

“Well, the next steps,” Christensen concluded, “are going to be in the next board’s hands.”