Clark, Seitz square off in race for county seat

Saukville Village Trustee Trevor Seitz, who is running for re-election to the Village Board, also is seeking to unseat Don Clark from his place on the Ozaukee County Board representing District 5 in the Village of Saukville.

Seitz has been a village trustee since 2018 and has twice run for village president, losing to incumbent Barb Dickmann in 2021 and Andy Hebein in 2023.

Seitz moved to Saukville in 2002 and retired in 2016 after 30 years in the U.S. Army.

Clark is owner of Village Printer and has served on the County Board since he was appointed in 2015.

“I’m running again because I enjoy helping people,” Clark said.

He said he’s perhaps most proud of the county’s financial situation, with the highest credit rating, lowest tax rate and one of the healthiest fund balances in the state.

“The money is spent wisely and we still provide quality services,” he said.

Clark said he’s looking forward to completing construction of the community-based residential facility at the Lasata Senior Living campus in Cedarburg.

“We can complete the circle of care there” that will help retain residents.

“It has been a long battle to get this. I think we’ve turned the corner on this. The CBRF will make it so Lasata is not on the tax roll,” said Clark, who serves on the Health and Human Services Committee. “It will help get us over the hump so it’s supporting itself.

“That’s been a project of mine and the committee for the last few years.”

He said he hopes to continue serving on the HHS Committee after the election.

“I will ask to stay on there,” he said, noting County Board Chairman Lee Schlenvogt and the Executive Committee make that determination.

  Other issues he said he’s looking forward to working on include improving emergency medical services in the county  and battling the mental health and substance abuse issues in the county, which officials have described as crises.

“I’ve been a resident of the county for 50-plus years and on the County Board for eight years and I know how it operates,” Clark said.

“I get a lot of questions from residents, some of whom aren’t in my district, who need help  but they don’t know where to go. I may not have the answer for them but I can point them in the right direction,” he said. “I am always readily available. I take pride in responding to people,” he said.

Seitz said his position as village trustee would be an asset to the County Board.

“I think it would be very beneficial to have the county supervisor for this district be on the Village Board at the same time, because then they would have firsthand knowledge of the issues the village is facing and vice versa.”

Seitz said he is interested in improving EMS and firefighter services in the county and how money is spent on county roads.

“I want to see if there’s a way of improving the relationships” between the county and municipalities, he said.

Seitz said he would be more communicative with the village than Clark has been.

“For as long as I’ve been on the Village Board, I cannot think of a time he has reached out or come to a village meeting,” he said.  “Of the 30 people who signed my petition, nobody knew who their supervisor was.”

Clark is an appointed member on the village’s Board of Review and an alternate member of the its Board of Zoning Appeals.