Apr. 17, 2024 noon
(WGTD)---At the organizational meeting of the newly-elected Kenosha County Board Tuesday night, board leadership swung from the right, to the center, and depending on your point of view, possibly even beyond.
Although they remained on the county board following this month’s elections, board chair Gabe Nudo and vice-chair Erin Decker did not seek new terms as board officers.
Elected instead as chair was Monica Yuhas. She defeated Dave Geersten, 12 to 9. Elected vice-chair was Daniel Gaschke, who narrowly beat Mark Nordigian, 11 to 10.
In brief comments to the board following her selection, Yuhas acknowledged previous divisions within the board, and promised to do better. "Today our society faces its own set of challenges marked by partisanship, personal attacks and political gridlock," she said. "Yet amid these trials there is hope. The recent election sent a clear message--a desire for progress, effectiveness and greater accountability."
Yuhas will now appoint members to the board’s various standing committees and select their leaders. Yuhas and those committee chairs then make up the board’s executive committee.
Nine of the board’s 23 members are new as a result of retirements and upsets.
Meanwhile, a couple of blocks away at the Municipal Building, new Kenosha Mayor Dave Bogdala, ending his first full day on the job, was formally sworn in.
At the city’s council’s organizational meeting, both Bogdala and members of the new city council took their oaths of office.
In brief comments to the crowd afterward, Bogdala pledged to keep the city moving forward. "We in this generation have been given an amazing opportunity in large part to the innovative and creative leaders who preceded all of us," he said. "Let us make sure that we show this state that Kenosha continues to be a leader--a leader who is on the move. A leader who accepts all challenges---a leader who continues to be a beacon of hope and opportunity for all."
Bogdala also expressed support for all members of the city council and city staff, forewarning though that he’ll be asking a lot of questions and is bound to make some mistakes.
Elected to the mostly ceremonial position of council president with no opposition was Jan Michalski.
-0-
