‘Dream Team’ heard residents ‘loud, clear’
St. John ‘voted for change,’ newcomer says
After soundly defeating four St. John Town Council incumbents in the May primary, the victorious newcomers easily won the general election earlier this month.
The first meeting with the four new council members will be held at noon Jan. 1. Republicans Wayne Pondinas, Bryan Blazak, Paul Panczuk and Michael Schilling, or as Blazak call them, “The Dream Team,” will join Gerry Swets who himself is a fairly newcomer having been elected to his seat last year.
Blazak credits putting in the hard work going door to door, night after night and seeing the payoff by the election results Nov. 5.
“Meeting the people and hearing their opinions on what they want is very important in governing St John in the future,” Blazak said.
Blazak said the residents voted “loud and clear” both in the primary eliminating the incumbents and the opposition on Nov 5.
Blazak said he looks forward to working with Clerk-Treasurer Beth Hernandez, who ran unopposed, who he says will continue “the fine job she has done for four years and add her experience to the team and improve the town’s operations.”
Blazak is a proponent of larger lots, responsible development, improvement of infrastructure and passing a traffic impact fee to upgrade roads.
He also wants to see improved park programs, study the feasibility of a community center and more town events.
“We have a lot of ideas on our plate and want to accomplish as many as fiscally responsible,” he said. “Residents involvement and transparency are key points we ran on and will bring to town governance. Regular citizens will populate boards and commissions to bring citizens opinions to government.”
Blazak said live streaming, not done prior, will become the norm for town meetings.
“The future is wide open and the residents voted for change,” he said. “We will do our best to give it to them.”
Blazak won one of the two At-large seats on the council, along with Pondinas, who offered respect for the Democrats (Gina Fezler and Richard Thomas) who were defeated Nov. 5.
“It takes a lot for somebody to run,” he said.
Pondinas said It feels good that the people went through the process and elected him to represent them.
“You are supposed to represent the people and do what is good for the town,’ he said. “I’m no better than them, it is just that I have the opportunity to be up there and represent them.”
Schilling ran unopposed in the 2nd Ward while Panczuk ran unopposed in the 1st Ward.
“I am grateful for the support from our residents for myself and all of the candidates that won their races,” Panczuk said. “As a group, we bring diverse viewpoints with similar goals for improving the town that should foster creative solutions to the challenges facing St John. Frankly, I - we - are eager to hit the ground running and get to work for our residents.
Rob Earnshaw is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.