April 15, 2020 – West Bend, WI – The West Bend Common Council will be in a familiar situation in the coming weeks as it looks to fill a vacancy in District 4.
Earlier this week unofficial April 7, 2020 election results showed Chris Jenkins winning the mayoral post for the City of West Bend. Jenkins had been alderman in Dist. 4.
In the past the Council filled a vacancy by appointment. As of Tuesday afternoon, there was already one candidate in the mix as Randy Koehler contacted the city clerk.
Koehler has past experience with the city; he was the alderman in Dist. 4 from 2011 to April 2015. Koehler always maintained a strong conservative stance and listened to his constituents. Koehler was also popular with city staff, visiting individual departments and learning how the city worked.
Koehler’s term ended when he lost his seat to Jenkins in 2015.
In 2017 Koehler considered getting back into local politics, however he changed his mind well before the April election saying, “After much discussion and thought I will not be filing papers for District 4 Alderman. Being a realist in a volatile political world does not serve my best interests. This city like status quo, not someone who challenges the system and expresses opinions. Therefore I will continue challenging both the social and political leaders of this community from outside of the establishment.”
Koehler is a life-long resident with a strong interest in politics. “Right now it’s a younger council and I think I could bring some experience and once again serve my community,” he said.
When Koehler served before he said the big issues were “roads and taxes.”
“Those are still issues that are relevant today,” he said.
The West Bend Common Council still needs to determine how it will move forward to fill the seat in Dist. 4. However, if it follows past procedure the following guidelines are expected to apply.
To be eligible to serve, an individual at the time of the appointment must be:
- A citizen of the United Sates and the state of Wisconsin;
- An elector of the city of West Bend; and
- A resident of District 4.
Official maps of the districts are available at the City of West Bend Clerk’s Office and CLICK HERE for the District 4 map online.
So far there’s no timeline on filling the post, that’s expected to be discussed in the coming month after the newly elected representatives are sworn in.
