O’Connell to return to Salem Town Board

Patrick O'Connell

Patrick O’Connell, who narrowly lost his bid for re-election to the Salem Town Board earlier this month, will return to the board after all.

Town Chairman Diann Tesar and the Town Board in a 3 to 1 vote appointed O’Connell to fill the supervisor seat Tesar vacated when she won the chairman seat, a press release issued by the town today. The vote was held at a special meeting Monday evening.

“Patrick O’Connell is a perfect choice for this board seat,” Tesar said. “He is involved in the community and brings experience to the team that will be very helpful to us.”

The Town Board relied heavily on the results of the April 5 election. O’Connell finished only four votes short of Supervisor Joseph Meier and 29 votes behind Supervisor Dan Campion.

“It was obvious to the board that Mr. O’Connell was a popular choice among the voters,” Tesar said.

O’Connell’s seat will be up for election again next year.

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7 Comments

  1. Barb says:

    Who was the opposition vote and why would they vote in opposition? Why didn’t they want Mr. O’Connell back on the board?

  2. jc says:

    This is so sad the dark days are returning to Salem right back to the same old same old GOOD OLD BOYS CLUB I am happy to be leaving Salem It is NOT the kind of town I thought it was or the kind of town I want to live in My last post

  3. Patrick says:

    Yes this is the start of the CLUB. Now the service fees will increase and some made up fees to follow. tesar is bad news.

  4. Dr. Brad Smith says:

    I want to congratulate Pat O’Connell on his reappointment to the Salem Town Board.

    His reappointment was logical and consistent with the voting patterns– he even received some 130 more votes than former Chairman Valentine.

    I do not hold his prior absence for personal or family medical reasons against him. In fact, I personally apologized to Mr. O’Connell for my stance against him as expressed even in this forum of a year ago. He did not require a public apolgy. However, I do so with this posting.

    Mr. O’Connell and his board colleagues saved Salem hundreds of thousands of dollars by their unanimous vote against former Chairman Valentine’s quest for incorporation research. I do not begrudge any of our elected officials for what they are paid.

    One passionate supporter of Ms. Valentine stated in another forum that through her efforts Salem had “…the first zero increase in the town’s budget in recent memory.” She may have overseen this feat as that person stated.
    However, I was in the audience when Ms. Valentine VOTED AGAINST THIS VERY BUDGET! So, actual credit for PASSING this “zero increase” goes to the very supervisors who have been attacked for opposing the would-be “Great Incorporator”.

    Folks, THINK! I too was sucked in two years ago by our former chairman’s
    manipulative ways. But over the past year I had a profound change in heart due to her tactics and disregard for the wishes of the people. Clearly, I am in the two-thirds majority who also feel that way.

    I again wish our new chairman and her entire board well in their subsequent efforts on behalf of our town. They know better than anyone that they will be under the public’s collective scrutiny to stay on budget and to avoid tax increases.

    As this morning’s unemployment and GDP figures remind us, the so-called “recovery” continues to be elusive for those of us on Main Street. We are all in this together. If our town board strays from being proper stewards for the people, I will be among the first to point that out.

    Thank you.

    Dr. Brad Smith

  5. strat says:

    well said Dr Smith,, I too think Mr O’Connell was an excellant choice and has my full confidence in his abilities

  6. Jim V says:

    Brad,

    Yes, the Town decided not to incorporate into a Village. The money is sitting in the bank ( Iwill get to that later) and our taxes would not have been affected by incorporation. Horray for you.

    Last week the Village of Silver Lake said their number three priority is to annex land into their VILLAGE. (I believe it is in their 2035 growth plan as well) I wonder where they will get it????? If it is from Salem our services will decrease or our taxes will increase because we will have less taxable land. It is simple math. But then why would you care? Your property has already been annexed by Paddock Lake thanks to Denny Faber and Pat O’Connell, who negotiated that deal.

    Again, it seems, we have to explain the difference between the Tax Levy and the Budget to the less enlightened.

    Linda spearheaded the 0% tax increase. If you had been at the workshop it would have been very obvious to you. Denny was right behind her and Diann and Joe hemmed and hawed for 15 minutes before they agreed. Pat was MIA. Linda voted YES for the tax levy.

    Linda voted NO on the Budget because there was $850,000, over and above the normal reserves, left unallocated in the Budget. The current Tax Levi is $3.4 million. $850,000, or 25%, is sitting in the bank unused. I can imagine there a number of people in this Town who could use that money. I am surprised that you are not outraged by this seeing as how we have so many are unemployed in this Town.

    I asked Dale Knapp, from the Wisconsin Taxpayer’s Alliance about this and he wrote “As for the balance in the capital budget, it would seem high at the cursory level.” $730,000 in expenses, $495,000 in reserve.

    The problem is that the only recourse a citizen has when they see misconduct by the Town Board is for them to hire an attorney and sue the Town. I am not going to do that.

    Town Board, please do not take Brad’s congratulatiuons or endorsement too seriously. Brad changes sides more often that a pancake gets flipped. He is like the weather. Wait 5 minutes and see who he is supporting then.

    Jim V.

  7. strat says:

    hey jim,,,,,,,,,idaho is due west

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