WAUPUN — Two incumbent aldermen and one returning alderman were seated for their next terms Tuesday evening at the Organizational Meeting of the Common Council on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
Alderman Dan Siebers of the 5th District, Alderman Jason Westphal of the 1st District, and newly returning Alderman Ryan Mielke of the 3rd District were elected to office at the April 1 election. All three ran unopposed, with Mielke taking the seat previously held by Kambria Ledesma who announced she would not be running again last January as she was moving out of town.
The three were sworn in by City Clerk Angie Hull.
After administering the oath of office, the Council were seated and set to choose the next Council president.
City Attorney Dan Vande Zande reiterated that this is the only time that the Council is allowed to have a secret vote. The Council could choose between a secret ballot or a roll call vote, and if there are more than two nominations would go through a process of elimination of the lowest voted member.
Alderman Mike Matoushek nominated Alderwoman Bobbi Jo Kunz, seconded by Alderman Siebers. Alderman Westphal then nominated Alderman Dan Siebers, seconded by Alderwoman Kunz. However, Kunz “respectfully declined” the nomination, leaving only Siebers in the running.
Westphal asked if he could make a motion to also nominate Alderman Pete Kaczmarski. Vande Zande said he would relax the rules and allow it despite Westphal having already made a nomination. Westphal then made a motion to close nominations and choose by roll call, seconded by Alderman Mike Matoushek.
The votes were:
Kunz: Siebers.
Mielke : Siebers.
Kaczmarski: Siebers.
Siebers: Kaczmarski.
Matoushek: Siebers.
Westphal: Siebers.
Alderman Siebers was congratulated for another term as City Council president.
Following this, the Council voted on the times and dates of future meetings. No changes were made, Common Council will be held at 6PM on the second Tuesday of the month, and Committee of the Whole at 6PM on the last Tuesday of the month. Motion by Matoushek to maintain the schedule, seconded by Kunz. The motion passed unanimously.
The Council then moved on to the designation of the official city newspaper, which would publish the city’s regular legal notices and meeting minutes.
Two regional newspapers submitted letters to be considered for the official city newspaper designation, Action Reporter Media with the Fond du Lac Reporter and Madison Media Partners with the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen. Tara Hamm from the Fond du Lac Reporter was in attendance via Zoom.
Alderman Pete Kaczmarski said that the Daily Citizen’s coverage of Waupun has dwindled over the last several years despite being the official paper. He also pointed out that the letter submitted by the FDL Reporter was more detailed than the letter from the Daily Citizen.
Mayor Rohn Bishop said that he wished that the Waupun Pioneer News could be the official city newspaper since Jaedon Buchholz covers all of the City Council meetings and local events.
He pointed out that per state statute the official paper has to be a “print, subscription” newspaper, which is part of why the Waupun Leader News went out of business as a free weekly paper. He also said that the Wisconsin State Legislature was talking about making changes to the official newspaper requirements because the law hasn’t been changed since the 1970s and local print newspapers have fallen in importance as a business model.
“When I was first on Council all those years ago, we had the Fond du Lac Reporter here, the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen here, and sometimes multiple radio stations—we had a whole media table,” Mayor Bishop said. “And all those days have gone with what local media has been going through.”
Mayor Bishop noted that in the previous two years only the Daily Citizen had submitted a bid to be the official paper, and questioned whether people actually read the Daily Citizen for meeting notifications. Mayor Bishop noted that City notices are posted on boards at City Hall, the Waupun Public Library, Waupun Utilities, and on the City website as well.
Alderman Westphal added that while he agrees with both Kaczmarski and Mayor Bishop, he wanted to caution the Council that people who may be used to going to the Daily Citizen for official City of Waupun notices may be confused by the change.
Alderman Matoushek asked if there’s a significant price difference between the two, which depended on the number and size of notices. City Clerk Hull pointed out that Class 1 and 2 notices do not get posted by the Daily Citizen on a daily basis anymore since they’ve reduced publication to three days per week.
Mayor Bishop then invited Tara Hamm to speak on behalf of Action Reporter Media.
Hamm said that she had a conversation with the editor of the FDL Reporter who will review the City Council meeting minutes in Waupun and start sending a reporter who would regularly cover Waupun area items and events, should they be chosen as the official paper.
Westphal made a motion to choose the Fond du Lac Reporter as the official city newspaper, seconded by Kunz.
Before voting on the motion, Alderman Siebers took a moment to thank Jaedon Buchholz for all of his efforts at journalism in Waupun.
Motion passed unanimously to approve the FDL Reporter as the official city newspaper of Waupun for the next year.
The Council reviewed a resolution “Designating Public Depositories and Authorizing Withdrawl of City Monies.” The motion passed unanimously without further discussion.
The Council then moved on to Mayoral appointments to boards, committees, and commissions. As Hull passed out copies of the packet to the Council, Mayor Bishop gave an overview on the appointments, and said that some meetings may have to change to keep some of the people due to scheduling conflicts. Alderman Mielke took over Kambria Ledesma’s positions on most appointments.
Mayor thanked the citizen members for their time on the boards, especially for those who volunteer without compensation.
“I think City committees used to be more important, thirty five-fourty years ago—especially at the Committee of the Whole—so it’s hard to find volunteers,” he said.
Motion by Kunz to accept the appointments, seconded by Matoushek.
Before voting, Alderman Pete Kaczmarski expressed strong disagreement about being removed from his appointments.
“I’m going to say something that for the first time in sixteen years I don’t understand some of the reasoning to be kicked off the DPW board when I’ve been part of it since day one,” he said. “I don’t agree, and I hope you know.”
Mayor Bishop then requested a vote on the motion.
5 aye’s, 1 nay, Kaczmarski dissenting.
The Council will meet again on Tuesday, April 29.
Following the meeting, Alderman Ryan Mielke gave some statements about returning to office. He previously served as alderman from September 2012 to April 2021
“I’m definitely interested in returning to the seat here, seeing what new materials are being covered, seeing what’s left kind of in the archive that we were working on,” he said. “But everything in this generation is greater, faster, stronger. And you got to be quick for some deals here, and we’re always looking for improvements for the city of Waupun, and that’s the reason I came back.”
As for what he would like to see done in Waupun now that he’s alderman again, he thought the City was on a good trajectory and wanted to see it continue.
“Our department heads are fantastic, and it looks like the same team still sits in all these positions here, so that’s great to see,” he said. “I would like to see continued improvement in growth in our workforce, but that also requires additional employers. Whether it’s manufacturing, commercial, or sales—and our youth workforce, give them an opportunity. I grew up here in Waupun and worked through the smaller entry level positions, and I’d like to see that allow for the next couple generations to come through here. So the decisions we make today could write new stuff for the future.”
Mielke will be seated on the boards and committees in the coming month as he’s brought up to speed on the state of the City.
Former alderwoman Kambria Ledesma was unable to attend the meeting.
