Wilber back on Silver Lake Village Board

silver-lake-VHSoti Wilber has been appointed to fill the vacancy on the Silver Lake Village Board created by Sue Gerber’s assumption of the village president’s seat.

Wilber had been a trustee since April 2011, but was not re-elected on April 2. She will fill out the remainder of Gerber’s term, which will expire April 2014.

The way the process for filling the seat played out was another illustration of the continued political divide in the village.

In Silver Lake, vacancies on the board are filled by a recommendation by the village president followed by a nomination and vote by the rest of the board.

Gerber said she felt the fairest method would be to appoint the next highest vote getter in the April electon. That was Roger Johnson, a former village president who ran for trustee this April.

But Gerber’s recommendation failed to find any support on the board. When she called for a nomination, Trustee Patrick Dunn nominated Wilbur, which was seconded by Trustee Cyndy Schwebke. The appointment was approved by a 4 to 1 vote with Gerber voting against and Trustee Barbara Ironside abstaining, but not stating her reason for abstaining.

Nearly every seat in the audience was filled. Wilber’s nomination was greeted by outbursts from a couple of  audience members pointing out that she received the least votes of the six trustee candidates in the election as well as applause from other audience members when it was approved.

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7 Comments

  1. Worried Resident says:

    Time to get out of Dodge. Apparently our board does not care what the residents in this village want anymore. She had the least # of votes for a reason. The position should’ve went to the person with the next highest amount of votes. Favoritism cannot play a role in our elected officials. I have faith that Sue Gerber will do her best to turn this village around. The little cliques in our village office that have their own agendas besides what the people want, need to stop.

  2. start packing if your worried says:

    just curious but do you know anything about her or do you know what all she has done for our villageif you followed her during the campaign she posted well over 50 different facts that she has done for this village for the better. as a resident I am very pleased and happy to see that she is back in office she was a great trustee and I know she will do wonderful filling out sues position. I guarantee you if it wasn’t for the situation regarding rescue and all the bandwagon people that want to jump on it nobody would have an issue with any of the current trustees on the board I will back any money on that

  3. Worried Resident says:

    Regardless of my feelings towards her, if she’d have had the next highest number of votes, I would have also thought that the citizens had spoken and the position should have went to her, however, that is not the case. And yes, I seen her list. She did not do all that on her own. I’m not going to bash her on here. I think it’s great that she wants to serve this village, but I think our board should let the person with the highest number of votes serve this village. I just personally don’t feel like she is the best person, but do applaud her for doing her best. Rescue aside, there are other issues that have not been dealt with in this town. I have went through measures to get my property taxes lowered for two years in a row since they are going on the value from 6 years ago and the village doesn’t seem to want to change that. I have had two appraisals since then yet still pay taxes on a value of 50k more. I’ve heard of several people having this problem. There are other problems as well that aren’t being dealt with, so rescue is not my only issue.

  4. Sandy says:

    @Worried Resident. I applaud you for acting like and adult and not bashing people on here. It is refreshing to know that there are some adults still in this village!! Also, as far as the taxes go, you need to go to the village website and look up the “open book” information. Schedule an appointment. There is a new assessor in town that seems to be more willing to work with the residents. I understand from some people that they went in with documentation and had their assessments lowered pretty much with no question.

  5. Outside Looking In says:

    As a Salem resident I believe that I have a right to comment on this issue. The pending EMS agreement with Salem and Silver Lake has heightened emotions on both sides of the latest Silver Lake election and rightfully so. This ‘IS’ Democracy in action.
    That said, why then wasn’t the next highest vote getter in the last election appointed to the Village Board? (I know Sue Gerber tried.) That in itself is the proper order of things of this sort, is it not? And doesn’t everyone think that the best way to settle the EMS issue is to put it to a vote in a referendum?
    By the village board first not allowing the EMS issue to go to a referendum and then appointing the least vote getter for the latest opening on the board, tells me that the Silver Lake residents are losing out on representative government as it should be. And this appointment proves that.

  6. sandy says:

    @outside looking in. Do you realize that the next highest vote getter, has lost the last three elections in a row in Silver Lake?? He was the board president, and while on the board he ran the town into the ground. He allowed taxes to be raised, he raising sewer bills and allowed for no bid contracts. So does that make scents to appoint someone who has lost several times and not actually listened to the community?? But also, if you look at the Kenosha County site, the next highest vote getter is actually Nancy. So shouldn’t she have been the one appointed?? Sue wanted Roger, and by any means possible to strengthen the numbers on her side, so that she would save the job for her son, as proven by her ethics violation. So is she really doing what is best for the community by asking to appoint the guy who has a bad track record???

  7. Seriously sandy? says:

    Save the job for her son? If I am correct, Dan Gerber has a full time job and a teaching job. From what I’ve heard, SLRS isn’t going anywhere if they lose the contract with SL. They have other contracts.
    Great reply “outside looking in.” I completely agree with you that issues should have gone to a referendum. I think SL’s previous board was looking out for themselves. Well, most of them. I cannot believe what some of the board was overheard saying behind people’s backs after saying another to their fronts. Waiting until next re-election. SL needs people on the board that want to do what is best for the people, not themselves. The people on the current board has a limited # of people that are looking out for the people.

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