Former Assembly candidate, newcomer join alderman in quest to succeed Huebner
The race for Port Washington mayor is shaping up, as is the race for the city’s 2nd District aldermanic seat.
Ald. Jim Vollmar recently said he will seek to replace outgoing Mayor Scott Huebner.Perry Duman, who ran unsuccessfully for the State Assembly in 2008 and Senate in 2011, and newcomer Richard A. Ranz have taken out nomination papers for the position.
Ald. Dan Becker, who had said he was considering a run for mayor, announced last week he would not seek the post.
In the 2nd District, two aldermen — Paul Neumyer and Burt Babcock — have both taken out nomination papers.
The two men currently serve on the Common Council, with Neumyer representing the 2nd District and Babcock the 4th — but because of the city’s redistricting now find themselves in the same district.
Newcomer Douglas Biggs has taken out nomination papers for the 4th District seat.
Ald. Dave Larson is the only person to take out nomination papers for his 6th District seat.
Although Vollmar has said he will run for mayor, he has yet to take out nomination papers.
Duman, who lives on Grand Avenue, said he would like to get people excited about Port Washington and work to help bring progress to the city.
“We need to continue with the stuff Mayor Huebner has initiated and build on that,” he said.
The city needs to concentrate not only on rebuilding downtown, said Duman, a member of the Main Street program, but also on increasing the number of businesses throughout the community and industrial park.
The city also needs to focus on developing the coal dock, he said.
“We need to build back a sense of community. We need a magnet, a core of the community,” Duman said.
Ranz, 27, said he would like to bring a new perspective to the city.
“I’d like to see my generation, the younger generation, get into office to bring Port Washington into the future,” he said. “We all like the heritge of the old Port, but we need to bring it forward into the future.”
Ranz, who lives on Harrison Street, said if he isn’t elected mayor, he would consider a future run for alderman.
Becker, who said several weeks ago that he was considering running for mayor, said he struggled with his decision.
“I did get a lot of encouragement from people, but it’s more a question of how can I best serve not only the citizens of Port Washington but also my family and my employees, and do that all well,” said Becker, who is president of X-Cell Tooling Inc.
“It’s not that the idea of being mayor doesn’t intrigue me; it’s that now may not be the best time.”
Of the declared candidates, only Neumyer has returned his nomination papers to City Hall. The deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3.
If more than two candidates seek any one position, a primary election will be held.
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