WAUPUN — The Waupun City Council unanimously voted to appoint Kambria Ledesma to fill the vacant council seat at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
The 3rd District Alderman seat was left vacant in September following William Langford’s resignation from the position due to moving out of the district. Following his resignation, the City announced they would be filling the position at Tuesday’s meeting, of which two potential candidates attended.
The two candidates who presented to the Waupun City Council were Kambria Ledesma and Lori Venhuizen.
The first candidate to present was Kambria Ledesma. Ledesma moved to Waupun in August of 2021 to build her family with her husband who is a physician at Dodge Correctional Institution. She is currently a stay-at-home-mom to her children, who were in attendance at the meeting.
“We started raising our family and every single person I’ve come into contact with has gone out of their way to be welcoming and kind,” Ledesma said. “It just makes me want to be more involved in the community.”
According to Ledesma, before she became a mother she had been a sales manager at jewelry stores and gained a lot of experience with customer service. She graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Relations in 2015 and currently serves as treasurer to the American Brussels Griffon Association, a show dog breed non-profit organization.
Following questions, the Council invited Lori Venhuizen to present. Venhuizen is a long-time resident of Waupun, having moved to the community in 1997. She previously worked at Verhage’s Furniture in Waupun, and currently works at Homan Auto.
Alderman Pete Kaczmarski asked a few questions of both candidates, primarily about what motivated them to put their names in for consideration, what they’ve done to research the alderman position, and whether their personal lives might interfere with council duties.
After a brief discussion the Council unanimously voted to appoint Ledesma to the position. She was immediately sworn in by the City Clerk and seated.
“It’s surreal,” Ledesma said about being appointed in a statement to WPN. “I was cautiously hopeful, but I’m over the moon with actually being appointed, so it’s going to be a fun two years.”
“I think she’s going to do great and the people of the third aldermanic district will have a really good alderperson representing them,” Mayor Rohn Bishop said in a statement following the meeting.
Mayor Bishop pointed out that he had not met Ledesma until the meeting, and said that he was very impressed with her presentation. He also said that he thought Venhuizen would have also done a great job on the Council.
“I thought both people were really really good and we were in a win-win situation when we heard the two people speak,” he said. “I’d like to thank Lori for going through the process and putting her name in there, it’s not an easy thing to do.”
The Mayor also expressed an interest in putting Venhuizen’s name in for a committee.
Ledesma will remain in the seat until the next election held in April of 2025, where she will have to run for reelection.
