3 suburban mayors face challengers

Incumbent mayors in Franklin, Greenfield and South Milwaukee will face opposition in their bids for re-election this spring.

A Feb. 21 primary election will be needed in South Milwaukee, where Mayor Erik Brooks is being challenged by two opponents. Frank Gratke and Jim Leavens will try to oust Brooks after his first term in office.

Jan. 3 was the deadline for candidates to register for local, county and state races on the April 4 spring election ballot.

Franklin Mayor Steve Olson is opposed by Basil Ryan, a former alderman. Olson, a former alderman, is asking voters to hire him for a second, three-year term.

Greenfield Mayor Michael Neitzke is being challenged by Ben Rucka for a four-year term.

In South Milwaukee, Brooks is seeking re-election to a threeyear term. He was elected in 2014 after serving three terms on the Common Council.

Leavens was an unsuccessful candidate in a 2014 mayoral primary. Gratke is campaigning for two offices in the spring election. He also is registered as a candidate for South Milwaukee School Board.

When Brooks campaigned for the mayor’s job three years ago, he said new leadership was needed to boost public and private investment downtown and reverse the decline of the city’s commercial center.

Leavens, a retired Wauwatosa firefighter and an Air Force veteran, said Brooks failed to accomplish those goals in three years.

“Show me the redevelopment,” Leavens said Wednesday. There are more than 40 vacant former businesses downtown, he said.

Leavens said he would release other campaign statements closer to the date of the primary election so that voters would remember the information.

Redevelopment of the eight-block downtown corridor along Milwaukee Ave. will continue to be his focus in the next term, Brooks said Wednesday.

“We’re just getting started,” he said.

Among recent accomplishments: the Common Council in 2016 adopted an updated comprehensive development plan that includes a downtown revitalization plan; the city created a downtown grant program that provides business and property owners with grants of up to $30,000 to help pay costs of building additions, exterior renovations and other upgrades; welcoming new restaurants and other small businesses to the city; and the September announcement by architecture and development firm Vetter Denk of its plans for building a $6.6 million project with apartments, space for retail and restaurants, a microbrewery and an outdoor courtyard at 11th and Madison avenues. Gratke’s website,

smdisco.com, lists unsuccessful campaigns for the state 21st Assembly District in 2016, South Milwaukee school board in 2015 and South Milwaukee Common Council in 2014.

Gratke did not respond to requests for an interview.

Brooks, a communications manager at MillerCoors, has published an online South Milwaukee Blog for seven years. The blog is a source for local news and activities.

Don Behm can be reached at don.behm@jrn.com and twitter.com/conserve.