December 4, 2019 – Washington Co., WI – The paperwork is in and Washington County District 15 Supervisor Marilyn Merten has filed non-candidacy for the April 2020 election.
Merten has served on the Washington County Board for 12 years. A long-time public servant Merten’s career in government started after she graduated high school.
“I worked in the county superintendent’s office and I was there for four years,” she said.
With only a brief pause, Merten said she was on the Civil Service Commission and the Samaritan Home Board of Trustees.
At 81 years old Merten said her decision not to run for County Board is not exactly a signal she’s retiring. “I’m still volunteering and I’m a member emeritus for the Washington County Historical Society Foundation and I’m on the Agricultural Industrial Society Board; I’m up for reelection as a member-at-large,” she said. “I serve on the administrative committee, finance committee …. you’re not totally rid of me.”
Questioned why she filed non-candidacy Merten said it was time. “I put in a lot of years as a public servant and I’ve always done the best I could for the citizens I represented and it’s a time where things are not going the way I normally see them so I really feel I’ve done my duty as a public servant,” she said.
Merten said this was not a difficult decision. “I’ve been thinking about it for some time,” she said. “People have been telling me I really need to run and I just figured I have to make a decision. I have things with my children and grandchildren I want to spend some time with.”
Merten and her husband had seven children together. She’s grandmother to 11 grandkids. “Only 11,” she said.
Over the years Merten has developed a reputation as a stickler for rules. She’s been dubbed a walking “Robert’s Rules of Order;” she is well versed in parliamentary procedure.
“There are times I challenge what’s going on because I don’t believe it’s correct but if somebody can point out to me that it is I guess I have to relent,” she said.
Not only was Merten in county government, she also spent 21 years on the Germantown School Board. “I learned a lot from our school attorney and feel I gained a lot of knowledge through those years,” she said.
Merten was elected Washington County Clerk in 1994. She worked with board chairmen such as Reuben Schmahl, Ken Miller, Tom Sackett, Herb Tennies and Don Kriefall.
Questioned whether she thinks the size of the County Board needs to be reduced, Merten said “definitely not.”
“People don’t understand what the County Board does and what it’s supposed to do and I really believe the number of people representing you on the County Board level is small enough,” she said.
For most of her time on the County Board Merten represented the Town of Polk. After redistricting she extended into the Town of Jackson.
Below is the latest list of supervisors who have filed paperwork with the Washington County Clerk for the April 7, 2020 election.
Photo of Merten courtesy Washington County Fair Park
