OMRO (NBC 26) — Steve Jungwirth, Suzette Davis-Rice and Jim Braasch are all running for Omro mayor.
- The three candidates approach the position with different experiences in public service.
- The incumbent is current Mayor Steve Jungwirth, who’s been in the position for four years.
- Suzette Davis-Rice is a nurse with no prior experience in public service.
- Jim Braasch is a former correctional officer and previously served on the city council for five years.
- All three candidates discuss the top issues they want to address is they are elected as mayor.
- The primary is on Tuesday, February 20th.
Three people are running for mayor of Omro. They’re all lifelong members of the community, but they’d each bring different levels of experience to the job.
The incumbent is current mayor Steve Jungwirth, who’s been in the position for four years. But, his public service career began more than two decades ago when he joined city council.
“I have a lot of experience, a lot of the history of the community. I worked here all my life,” Jungwirth said.
He says he hopes to use this experience to continue his work as mayor: fixing up old buildings and creating a new 20-year comprehensive plan.
“I really don't have any current issues,” Jungwirth said. “I just want to maintain the city and move forward. We have some bigger projects that are coming up.”
His rival Suzette Davis-Rice is taking the opposite approach. She’s a nurse with no prior experience in public service. She said that being an outsider in office could actually be an asset to her.
“I have a set of fresh eyes,” Davis-Rice said. “I'm really trying to come into this blind. And I'm aware of that. So, but, I think it'll be an interesting challenge.”
She said her main issue is revitalizing Main Street and increasing government transparency.
“We just can’t seem to maintain small businesses in this town,” Davis-Rice said. “We’ll try to figure out what the problem is. . . and how we can fix that.”
The third candidate Jim Braasch is a former correctional officer and previously served on the city council for five years.
“[My job] taught me how to work with people, staff and inmates and the public,” Braasch said.
He also wants to bring more life to Main Street, and he’s running to lower taxes for small businesses.
“We have businesses in town that, they're getting almost run out, in my opinion, because they can't afford to live here,” Braasch said. “We can’t have that.”
The primary is on Tuesday, Feb. 20 and the general election is April 2.
