Three Seek Milwaukee County Supervisor Seat

Candidates looking to replace County Supervisor Paul Cesarz come from all three of the communites in the Ninth Supervisory District, and all three have prior experience as an elected official.

Candidates are: Hales Corners Village Trustee Donald Schwartz, Franklin Alderman Steve Taylor and Oak Creek Alderman Ken Gehl. Cesarz is not running for re-election.

The district is comprised of all of Hales Corners and the bulk of Oak Creek and Franklin. 

Sheriff's deputy Robert Ostrowski, who previously said , did not file nomination papers before the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, according to county records. He did not return a message Wednesday.

The three men will be on the Feb. 21 primary ballot; the top two vote-getters will advance to the spring general election.

The trio of candidates

Schwartz is heavily involved in the Hales Corners community, but perhaps his most active role is that of president of the Friends of Hales Corners Pool. For the past ten years, he has worked closely with Milwaukee County to keep the pool open, and he said that knowledge and experience would serve him well as county supervisor.

"On day one, I can walk in and bring 10 years of experience working with Milwaukee County," he said.

Schwartz, a political science professor at Carthage College and UW-Fond du Lac, said he also has expertise in forging successful public-private partnerships, and hopes to create more as supervisor.

Schwartz joins Gehl and Taylor,  in December.

Gehl, in his second term on the Oak Creek Common Council, is an analyst for Robert W. Baird.

He said many components of the Oak Creek community - like 13th Street,  College Avenue and - are under county jurisdiction, but the city has not had adequate representation on the board.

Especially with lakefront redevelopment plans moving forward, Gehl said the city needs more cooperation with the county.

"There's no catalyst or good advocate at the county level to push for those kinds of things," Gehl said.

Taylor, who works for Country Financial as a financial representative, has served on the Franklin Common Council since 2008.

Taylor believes that with the amount of money residents pay in county taxes, they "are not getting return on their investment." He touted his ten years total of experience in government, having previously served in La Crosse and East Lansing, Mich.

"I can do a better job than what the (incumbent) is doing and I decided that something needs to be done," Taylor said. "The county is definitely a mess."

Election basics

The top two vote-getters in next month's primary will face off in the April 3 general election. Supervisors are elected to four-year terms at a salary of $50,679.

A small portion of Oak Creek, on the north end of town, is part of the 8th supervisory district. There, incumbent Pat Jursik is running unopposed.

Find out who your supervisor is with this map of the districts.