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Rock County Board applicants rejected

JANESVILLE — A Rock County Board committee has rejected two Evansville residents who applied to fill an empty county board seat.

Janis Ringhand, 412 Fowler Circle, and Susan Hilbert, 7902 N. Robert Drive, applied for the position.

As county board chairman, Russ Podzilni has the power to appoint an applicant to the position with confirmation by the full board. But instead of picking an applicant himself, Podzilni chose to have supervisors Mary Mawhinney of Avalon and Betty Jo Bussie of Beloit join him on a committee to interview Ringhand and Hilbert.

Podzilni planned to fill the District 1 seat in November, but the three-person committee could not come to a majority decision between the two applicants, Podzilni said.

Hilbert is an 18-year resident of the district and works for Wisconsin Property Taxpayers, Madison. Ringhand has served as the mayor of Evansville and is currently a member of the Evansville City Council.

Ringhand and Hilbert are welcome to re-apply, Podzilni said. He will choose different supervisors to interview the next applicants, he said.

The seat became open with the September death of Supervisor Art Phillips.

Ringhand and Phillips competed for the seat in January when the board appointed a replacement for Supervisor Steve Eager. Phillips was appointed.

Both ran for the seat in April, and Phillips was elected.