This year only two people, Kathy Stokebrand and Arthur Ircink, filed for the two open trustee positions on the village board, ruling out the possibility of a competitive campaign season.

“Because we only have two positions that are vacant and only two people filed to run, those individuals will proceed forward to ballot with an uncontested election. Meaning that no other individuals will be competing against them on the ballot,” said Rebecca Ewald, village manager.

Both Stokebrand, retired, and Ircink, president of the Business Improvement District (BID), are already active community members, but they wanted to take their passion for Shorewood further with a position on the board.

“I’ve lived in the village for over 20 years and this has become my home town.” Stokebrand said. “My husband and I moved here before my daughter was born, and we have come to love the community and the quality of life here.”

Ircink says he feels similarly.

“It’s just my devotion to the community. I think Shorewood is such a great place. The people are fantastic, and I really saw an opportunity to represent and serve the community,” Ircink said.

When they found out they would be running uncontested, Stokebrand and Ircink were glad. 

“I was happy and relieved, a little bit nervous… Even though it appears that I will be elected, I would never take it lightly and it’s still a very serious commitment to me,” Stokebrand said.

“I was really excited,” Ircink said. “I was geared up to run a campaign, but now I just assumed the position. Now I have more of an opportunity to take this time from now until April to learn about the position, to go to the meetings.”

Although they share a love for the village, they hope to bring very different concerns to the table. Stokebrand wants to focus on the village’s infrastructure. 

“I think the village faces some significant costs going forward in terms of infrastructure improvements. Things like sewers, roads, alleys. Those are going to be really expensive, but we also want to try to protect many things in the village that are important to us,” Stokebrand said. 

On a different note, Ircink thinks the village’s businesses and environmentalism can be improved.

“Kind of a big motivator for me is the future development of Shorewood within its business district. But also I think we have a huge responsibility on an environmental level. That’s another big aspect that I’m into,” Ircink said. “I want to fight with other organizations to ban single-use plastics [like] styrofoam, straws [and] plastic bags.”

Unlike past years, their positions are basically guaranteed. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be campaigning. Stokebrand still plans on getting out in the community. 

“The first time I ran was last spring [and] I’m running pretty much the same platform as I did the first time,” said Stokebrand. “I feel it’s important to meet as many village residents as possible and the best way to do that is to go out and knock on doors. I found that out last year.”

Ircink plans to keep doing what he’s doing now: talking with members of the community. He currently does so by coaching little league and basketball, running the farmers market, and through his career.

“I just naturally talk to everybody in the community; I’m a social person,” Ircink said. “I think for me, it’s just a natural thing that I do because I run the BID, so I’m talking to all of the business owners all the time.”

Although eager to get started, Stokebrand and Ircink won’t actually start in their positions as trustees until April.

“We have a board right now that is active and…they will operate in that manner until these new individuals take their oath of office and are by law allowed to proceed in their role as trustee,” Ewald said.