Yeah 14. We only have 4 races for 37 county board seats, but when you don’t have to campaign, raise money, deal with nastiness, etc. we have plenty of people willing to serve . . . by tomorrow, it will be decided who will be filling this seat.
Tonight at 6:30 there is a meeting where the 14 will be narrowed down to three, after 5 minutes of questions for each candidate, then each of the three remaining candidates will be asked to answer 7 more mystery questions.
Fourteen people have applied to be appointed to be the Alder for District 11. The Common Council Organizational Committe (CCOC) will interview each applicant on Monday, February 22 at 6:30 in Room 260 of the Madison Municipal Building (agenda). This is a public meeting and anyone may attend. The meeting will also be broadcast/streamed live by Madison City Channel.
You can review the information submitted by each applicant here.
After the interviews, CCOC is expected to recommend one of the applicants to the Common Council, who would then be up for confirmation at the March 1 Council meeting. The appointee (just like all council members) will serve until the next election in April of 2017.
(This message posted by Ald. Mark Clear, District 19)
Here’s a bit more about the candidates:
1. Peter Anderson
A former alder (1991), he was forced to resign when the recycling business he owned bid on a contract with the city. He founded Clean Wisconsin, and ran it for 20 years. He also says he founded Dane Dances. Spent 3 days in jail for civil disobedience opposing the tar sands Keystone XL pipeline.He would focus on working with neighborhood associations, reach “reasoned fact-based judgements on economic development” and if he has time, work to reduce the city’s carbon footprint. He does not plan to run for alder.
2. Tyrone Bell
He is the president of Coventry Condo Association. Vice President of Unity of Madison Church Trustee Board. He served on the CDBG Commission, the Police and Fire Commission, Hilldale Neighborhood Association Board, Hamilton Middle School PTO President, is one of the founders of 100 Black Men, is a United Way Board Banks Memeber and a mentor for Big Brothers, Big Sisters along with serving on several other committees and Boards. He wants to work on traffice, construction, safety and density issues in the area. He was a Hill Farms Gardener. He wants to work to continue to build trust in City Government. He is not interested in running for alder. Although, he was a candidate for alder in the past.
3. Albart Bryan He has a handwritten application cover letter. He is a doctor. Works at Oakhill correctional facility. Practiced medicine in Russia. Served in the military, including in Iraq. Is a member of Downtown Rotary. Is upset with Alder Schmidt for not representing Sunset Village well. Concerned about pedestrian and bike safety. Wants narrower streets and to save the trees. He wants to work on a joint study with MMSD to study 30 years of busing kids to schools and how that contributed to the rapid gorwth of neighboring towns like Middleton and Waunakee. He also wants to look at brain development and law enforcement efforts with young offenders. He does not plan to run for Alder.
4. Chris Carlsen Worked at WisDOT for 32 years, he has been a lead worker with the DMV for the last 15 years. He also runs a business where they take care of dogs when customers are away from home. Is a part-time Madison Metro Driver for the schools. He was on the Transit and Parking Commission for 9 years, Parking Council for People with Disabilities for 9 years, Long Range Transportation Planning Commission for 3 years and was a member of the Glenn Oaks Hills Neighborhood Association. Is Lay Minister and teaches 6th grade on Saturdays at the First Unitarian Society of Madison. He is involved with Rainbow Project. He does not plan to run for Alder.
5. Tim Gruber A more recent former alder in the area (2005 – 2009). Works at Midvale Elementary School. He would work on rebuilding the streets in Sunset Village (where he lives), including rain gardens. He wants to work on the community gardens in Rennebohm Park and redevelopment of Hill Farms. He also wants to make Madison a music city like Austin and Nashville. He does not intend to run for Alder.
6. Elizabeth Kohl Worked for the state for 30 years. Works with League of Women voters and Clerks office regisering voters and is a poll worker. She has several paragraphs about democracy and civil discourse and believes in working with people. She would spend her time listening to people in the district, and alders. She believes she has strong knowledge of government from her 30 years at the state. She would hold listening sessions and work with Chris Schmidt to do a transition. She is planning to run for alder, and if not selected will think about running in 2017.
7. Emily Kuhn She worked for 10 years at the Office of Managment and Budget in Washington DC and Social Security. She has worked on a non-partisan voting app for your phone. She learned alot about government resources for small businesses, especially start-ups and understands the importance of angel investors. Is on the board of Rajkowski Radiology. Is a member of Hilldale Condo Association. She is on the city’s Affirmative Action Commission, Vice Chair of the Women’s Caucus for Democratic Party of Wisconsin, is a board member of Hilldale Condo Association, Monroe St. Arts (finance committee) and a member of the Wisconsin State Interagency Council on Homeless. She wants to work on economic development plans for the district, forcus on University transit corridor (thinks its hard to cross the street at Midvale and University) and concerned about bus routes not going where they need to go (says its hard to get to the library from Hilldale). She does plan to run for office in 2017.
8. Arvina Martin Producer of RSKINS doccumentary, Chief Communications Officer for Ho-Chunk Nation for a year, worked for JoCasta Zamiarripa for 2 years,, one year Native Vote Director for Organizing for America, a campaign manager for Ellen for Assembly. 1 year American Indian Outreach Coordinator for Democratic Party of Wisconsin, also a communications inter for them. She wants to work on transparency and engagement, lessening racial disparities and work on infrastructure for the district including the Mineral Point/midvale intersection. She wants safe and efficient roads and utilities and is concerned about Hill Farms redevelopment. She may run for office in 2017.
9. Tom McCarthy He is the Communications Director for the Department of Public Instruction. He worked in the State Assembly for 9 years as an intern for Rep. Thomas Nelson and as a research assistanct for Sondy Pope for seven years. He has no policy agenda, does not plan to run because he is starting a family and would like to see an open and contested race in 2017.
10. Gary Peterson He’s a retired planner and frequent flyer at the City committee and council meetings and married to Susan Schmitz, the lobbyist for Downtown Madison Inc. He submits his resume and says he won’t run for office, but he has run in the past, but dropped out. He says he wants to attend neighborhood meetings to find out the concerns, help implement the Comprehensive, Sustainability, Downtown, Transportation and other City Plans. He wants to increase awareness of the adopted plans, include sustainability elements in public and private projects, to change the development application process to be more positive, enhance TIF program and help promote Alder Schmidt’s goals. He’s a member of Downtown Rotary, Hill Farms Planning Committee, initiated no engine ideling policy for Hilldale, is (was?) a member of Downtown Madison Inc Design Professionals, Downtown Plan Committee, Bicycle subcommitee, Economic Development Committee and Zoning Rewrite Committee.
11. James Ream Is a a concierge for Airbnb. He teaches Capoeira (Brazillian dance martial art), teaches disc golf at Elver, volunteers at Point Reyes National Seashore and Salvation Army. He wants to serve because his livlihood depends upon making his guests and neigbors happy. He wants to work on the relocation of the Hill Farms Gardens. He doesnt’ want to run in 2017. (He also hasn’t paid any airbnb taxes as required by city law)
12. Paul Sherman He would listen, keep people informed and not run for office in 2017. Graduated from law school in 2002. Has been a School Administration Consultant for the past 8 years, before tha was a staff attorney at Coalition for Wisconsin Aging Groups. Taught high school social studies for 5 years before law school
13. Antonio Trillo He’s an assitant US Attorney for Western District. Was a Healthcare Fraud Coordinator for four years. He now handles criminal cases. Moved here 5 years ago. Is interested in TIF developments, community policing and the landmarks ordinance. He doesn’t want to run for office in 2017 because his family is planning to expand next year. He wants to be involved with the Police Policy Committee because he works in criminal prosecution and litigation of civil rights cases against law enforcement.
14. Susan Cotten Member of Westmorland Neighborhood Association, found member of grassroots parent organization SchoolWorks to increase participation by parents of color, hosted a television show on Channel 10. Is a “It’s My Business” Board member at Community Action Coalition reviewing business plans and requests for loans. A member of the Presbyterian Student Center Foundation Board and a MSCR learn to ride a bike volunteer. She is Director of Community Relations and Development for Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development for the past 6 months, spent 6 months as senior director at Vida Business solutions, 2+ years as Operations Coordinator – Link at InterVarsity. She wants to serve bridge the business world and noprofit world. She would like to understand the needs of the residents and be effective and build channels of communication. She does not plan to run in 2017.
And there you have it. As it see it, at this point, since several of them plan to run, they should be disqualified and they should go with a former alder or someone involved in city committees so they can hit the ground running as best they can. Will be interesting to see what they do tonight.
