1st District Aldermanic Seat Up For Grabs

One Oak Creek Common Council seat is up for grabs in next week's general election.

1st District Alderman Dan Jakubczyk, first elected in 2009, is running for re-election against challenger Kathryn Michuda. 

Aldermen are elected to two-year terms with an annual salary of $7,200.

Two other aldermen, Dan Bukiewicz and Steve Scaffidi, are running unopposed.

Jakubczyk

Jakubczyk, married with two adult children, has lived in Oak Creek for the past 35 years.

He had always been interested in politics, but ran in 2009 to get more involved and find out how the city operates, he said.

Two years later, Jakubczyk wants to see through the city's major development plans - including the lakefront, the old Delphi site and 27th Street. He touted the council approving zero-percent increases in the property tax levy both of his years in office. 

Michuda

Michuda is a 22-year resident of Oak Creek. She's married with four children and six grandchildren.

She first got involved with Oak Creek politics a little more than two years ago, when the U.S. Postal Service proposed an 820,000-square-foot mail-processing center at the corner of College and Pennsylvania. Many neighbors were upset but the project was eventually approved (though it still has not come to fruition). 

Michuda said it was then that several suggested to her she would be a good representative on the Common Council. 

Michuda has served on the Community Development Authority, which functions as the city's economic development organization, for two years.

If elected, one of her goals is to keep residents better informed about what's going on in the city, she said. She would also be the only woman on the council.

The Fightin' 1st: The 1st District encompasses the northern part of the city, with borders of (roughly) Pennsylvania Avenue on the east, Drexel Avenue on the south, Interstate 94 on the west and College Avenue on the north.

COMING TUESDAY: The 1st District candidates weigh in on the issues.