Town of Beloit chairman race down to two
Town of Beloit chairman Primary
Tim Guenther 158
Jim Olson 104
Jim Stevens 90
Phil Taber 74
Photo 
Tim Guenther
Photo
Jim Olson
TOWN OF BELOIT — Town of Beloit voters will decide whether town Supervisor Tim Guenther or Turner School Board member Jim Olson will be their next town chairman in the April election.
Town Supervisor Jim Stevens and former town Supervisor Phil Taber were eliminated in the four-candidate primary Tuesday. Guenther received the most votes with 158, followed by Olson with 104.
"I think the voters like my message, and the message is to keep moving forward in the path that we're going, and I'm very happy about that," Guenther said. "It's actually a vote for the whole board that's sitting now, in my opinion."
Guenther, 57, of 2556 S. Natures Ridge, Beloit, is a project manager with Morse Group in Beloit. He is serving his first term on the town board.
"I wasn't surprised by the outcome. I do think that the turnout was very low, and it's certainly going to be a bigger turnout for the April election," Olson said. "I'm going up against a good guy. He's the kind of guy you wouldn't mind losing to."
Olson, 76, of 2228 N. Pow Wow Trail, Beloit, is self-employed in a financial service business. He served as town chairman from 1991-93 and is serving his first term on the Beloit Turner School Board. He also is seeking re-election to the school board.
Olson said his goal is still the same—to bring economic development to the town and city and create jobs.
"I think the possibility of a casino certainly is going to have an impact," he said, "and I think we should be planning for that, even though it may be a few years. It kind of fits in to the school board's plan, as far as the referendum. Hopefully, we're going to grow. I'm going to do my best to see that we do."
The school board has a $28 million referendum to build a new high school on the April ballot.
Guenther said he believes the board has moved in a positive direction—"doing things the town needs, watching things fiscally, and basically tonight, in my opinion, was a vote of confidence in that platform and the things we've accomplished."
The board in the last few years worked through legal issues, hired a new administrator who is doing "very well" for the town and held joint meetings resulting in positive talks with the city of Beloit, he said.
"There's been a lot of good things that have happened," he said.
Feb 21, 2013 at 12:44 p.m.
Suggest removal
Congrats Tim and good luck in April!
Feb 21, 2013 at 9:36 a.m.
Suggest removal
Mr. Olson's goal is to continue spending as is shown by his endorsement of building a new Turner High School, hopeful that open enrollment will fill the classrooms. He doesn't get the fact that most Turner school taxpayers want a small school enviroment for their children, not an empire like Mr. McCarthy is proposing. Mr. Olson needs to get out and talk to the Town of Beloit residents instead of assuming he knows what they want.
Before you post a comment, consider this:
Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy AgreementPost Comment
Commenting requires registration.