Congratulations on all of the sitting Village Board members who maintained their positions.
I will have to reflect for a while on my results and consider what they mean for me. I didn’t do as well as I would have liked, but I did better than I feared I would.
Below are my answers to the Tri-County Area Times Questionnaire which they sent to all Board Trustee candidates that they could get a hold of.
1). Why do wish to serve or continue to serve the Village of Fall Creek as an elected official?
I was raised a Navy brat, knowing no real “home” for my entire childhood, which I’d always longed for. This happily changed when I moved here and settled down in this fantastic community. The Village of Fall Creek is a great place to have a family and raise children. Having my wonderful wife and two children of my own, I’d like to be able to represent myself and other “middle aged” parents on the board. I would like to see the village continue to prosper, renew, and to continue to be a place where my children would want to settle and raise their own families in the future.
2). What is your opinion on the relationship between the Village of Fall Creek and the Town of Lincoln and Eau Claire County and it’s importance for the future growth of the village?
I think that it’s important that the village continue to work together with the Town of Lincoln on local issues that affect both municipalities, and yet still maintain their separate spirits. The Town of Lincoln serves a community of individuals that live further apart from each other, while the Village of Fall Creek serves those that live generally in closer proximity. As such, they each have different wants and needs, and I think it’s important for us to recognize that, and for both groups to work together to achieve common goals, while not stepping on each other’s toes. Meanwhile, Eau Claire County continues to provide extended support for both municipalities, and it’s important for that dialogue to continue, for us to express to the county our needs, as well as representing ourselves sufficiently at that level of government. We must work together and try to tamp down on any divisive rhetoric. We’re all in this together, we should support and help each other. It’s the Midwest way.
3). Is there a project or program or initiative you would like to see the village take on or accomplish during your term in office that would help improve the quality of life in the village and what would it be?
Well at the forefront always, we should be mindful of “rural decay”, which is a very real issue facing villages such as ours. I don’t like seeing buildings that appear abandoned right in the heart of the village, and I think we can work together to resolve that. But that’s a long-term goal. In the short term, if I can just accomplish the task of opening government to fuller transparency and engaging the electorate in a more consistent and regular way, then I would consider my tenure to be one well spent. This would involve recording and publicizing all public meetings on the Village website (as I’ve been attempting to do as a private citizen), as well as providing all public documentation to the community online for free, without requiring an open records request. I’d like to make it policy that our local government pushes to give the community all the information they need to make informed decisions BEFORE the issues affecting them have been voted on, so that they have a chance to let their voices be heard.
Due to recovery from surgery, I will be unable to attend the Village Board meeting tomorrow evening. Which means, I will not be able to record it. This may be the case for next week’s School Board meeting as well, we’ll have to see. If anyone is interested in attending either meeting and recording them for the public, please contact me, and I would gladly lend my recording equipment as well as provide instructions on their usage.
I’ve constructed the below questionnaire for all candidates for all governmental boards. Questions that I would like my candidates to answer, and questions that I would expect to answer to the public if I was running (which of course I am). So that the people know that you’re not just voting for a name and a smile, but rather for someone that has shown some substantive leanings. I’ve tried to formulate the questions in a “generic” way so that they can apply to a broad range of elections and a broad range of candidates.
I will provide my own answers to the appropriate questions on my own separate page a little while later. I invite all of my fellow candidates to post any and all answers to these questions in any way they choose, in any format that they choose, on any platform that they choose. I will also gladly and willingly answer any other questionnaires that anyone else requests that I answer. This is just mine.
If a candidate chooses to provide these answers directly to me at my e-mail address (west@bennettforoffice.org), I will gladly post their answers here to provide them a platform as well.
For all candidates:
For sitting board members:
For those not currently on the board, but seeking to get on it:
It was brought to my attention that both nominees for Village President had sent letters to Fall Creek citizens. While I find it strange that I wasn’t included on these mailing lists, as I’ve been a resident for over a decade, I’ll have to assume it was a simple mistake.
Luckily, a kind citizen has given me access to these documents, so I have scanned them and provided them here, for anyone else that was left off of their mailing lists:
The names have been drawn, and below you can see the names of all of the individuals competing for three open spots on the Village Board. I have denoted incumbents with an asterisk (*) and attempted to link next to all candidates’ names either their official website(s), and/or their social media page(s), if I could find them, so that you can learn more about us.
If any of this information is inaccurate, please contact me and I will correct it immediately. Good luck to all those participating.
