Tuesday, December 18, 2007

West Bend School Board Chairman Will Not Run For Reelection

That’s a shame. 

West Bend School Board President Charles Hillman will not seek re-election this spring.

Hillman’s business, GrandCare Systems, will require more of his time in the next year and he can no longer commit enough hours in a week to be a productive school board member, he said.

The company sells communication and health monitoring systems for older adults.

His decision not to run for another 3-year term was made prior to last month’s defeat of a $119.3 million school building referendum, Hillman said.

He was appointed to the board in June 2004 and elected to a full three-year term in April 2005. Hillman served as president of the board in 2006 and 2007.

Terms of three other board members also end in spring and each of the four seats will be on the April 1 ballot.

The other three incumbents to face voters are Kris Beaver, Joe Carlson and Todd Miller.

Candidates for school board must file nomination papers with the board clerk by Jan. 2.

Charlie is a good influence on the board.  He’ll be missed.

I do wish that he had given a bit more warning.  There are only 15 days until the filing deadline and that is through the holidays.  It will make it hard for people to get ready to run for the seat.  If the decision was made months ago, why couldn’t he let people know so that potential candidates would have time to prepare a run?  Or was this information communicated a while ago and the MJS just finally caught on? 

What gives, Charlie?

(2) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1813 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. I have been on the fence for quite a while. It really came down to our fourth quarter results for the business. I am in the process of going after another round of angel financing and I could not in good conscience ask my investors to take this chance if I was not able to devote my full time and energy. As to timing, since there are four seats up for grabs, I would hope that anyone seriously interested in the School Board would not be sitting around waiting for me to make a decision.

    Posted by Charlie Hillman on December 19, 2007 at 1419 hrs


  2. The date for incumbents to declare is December 21 and he beat that. (They can still back out, but another 7 days is required to close the ballot if they miss the deadline.)

    Looks like this is maybe your opening, Owen!

    Posted by Cindy on December 19, 2007 at 2126 hrs


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