Fox Cities election results: Grand Chute voters reelect Town Chair Jason Van Eperen

GRAND CHUTE - Incumbent Town Chair Jason Van Eperen earned a second two-year term in office Tuesday, handily defeating former Town Chair Dave Schowalter in a repeat of the 2021 election.

Van Eperen won 67.4% of the vote compared with 32.6% for Schowalter, according to unofficial results. Two years ago, Van Eperen's margin of victory was 63.4% to 36.6%.

"I'm very happy, thankful and humbled all at the same time," Van Eperen told The Post-Crescent.

Van Eperen help shepherd the elimination of special assessments on abutting property owners to help pay for road improvements in the town. The full cost of road improvements now are funded through property taxes.

"We need to keep monitoring our road situation to make sure we're on the right path," he said.

For Schowalter, it was his third defeat in three years after serving a decade as town chair. Sandwiched between his two losses to Van Eperen, he lost to Jeff Ings for town supervisor last year.

Schowalter ran a minimal campaign against Van Eperen. He opted not to return a candidate questionnaire to The Post-Crescent ahead of the election, and he didn't raise or expend funds to meet the threshold for filing campaign finance reports.

"I had no money involved in it," Schowalter said. "I ran because I thought that each one (on the Town Board) should be challenged this year."

Grand Chute Town Board gains new supervisor

One Grand Chute supervisor survived Tuesday's election, and one did not.

Incumbent Ron Wolff was reelected to second two-year term on the Town Board. He collected 60.7% of the vote to defeat challenger Tim Bantes, who had 39.3%.

Incumbent Walt Nocito lost his seat on the board, falling to challenger Beth English. She received 53.5% of the vote to secure her first two-year term. Nocito had 46.5%.

Wolff and Nocito were among the majority of the board that recently decided to eliminate special assessments on abutting property owners to help pay for road improvements in the town. Their reelection campaigns celebrated the move. Their opponents raised questions about it.

The split results don't offer a clear validation or rejection of the board's decision.

More: Fox Cities election results

Buchanan voters elect Joe Coenen as town chair

Plan commission member Joe Coenen won Buchanan town chair by seven votes over incumbent Greg Spranger. The vote was 1,066 to 1,059.

Incumbent board supervisors Karen Lawrence and Chuck Kavanaugh were reelected to the board, as both were unopposed.

Appleton council gains one new member, has seven returnees

Patrick Hayden defeated Karl Koenig in District 7 to earn a two-year term on the Appleton Common Council.

Hayden tallied 59.1% of the vote to Koenig's 40.9%. Hayden will succeed Maiyoua Thao, who didn't seek reelection.

During his campaign, Hayden emphasized the importance of debt reduction and investing in public safety, including embedding mental health professionals in the ranks of police officers.

Seven incumbents were reelected to the council: Bill Siebers in District 1, Brad Firkus in District 3, Katie Van Zeeland in District 5, Alex Schultz in District 9, Kristin Alfheim in District 11, Sheri Hartzheim in District 13 and Chad Doran in District 15. All ran unopposed.

Neenah voters reelect Cari Lendrum in District 1

Incumbent Cari Lendrum narrowly survived a challenge from Alex Collins to earn her fifth three-year term as a representative of District 1 on the Neenah Common Council.

Lendrum won 51.6% of the vote, and Collins had 48.4%.

At issue in the race was Northpoint Development Corp.'s request to rezone Shattuck Middle School for redevelopment as apartments, single-family homes and parkland. Lendrum voted in favor of rezoning the property, which lies in District 1, and Collins was outspoken against it.

The rezoning failed to pass in December, but the issue could resurface because Northpoint has until May 1 to act on its offer to purchase the property from the Neenah Joint School District for $500,000.

Elsewhere in the city, District 2 incumbent Tami Erickson and District 3 incumbent Scott Weber were reelected. They ran unopposed.

Incumbents secure their seats on the Kaukauna Common Council

All incumbents were reelected to the Kaukauna Common Council as District 1 incumbent Marty DeCoster defeated challenger Liz Walker with 59% of the vote and District 3 incumbent Brian Schell secured his seat against challenger Chris Britten with 62% of the vote.

District 2's incumbent Kelli Antoine and District 4's Pennie Thiele were both reelected as they ran unopposed on the ballot.

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

Sophia Voight is a local government and political reporter for The Post-Crescent. She can be reached at svoight@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @sophia_voight.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton, Grand Chute, Neenah, Kaukauna, Buchanan election results