Anzia, Gottsacker to face off for village president in spring election

The April 2 election ballot will include one contested race in the Village of Belgium.

Incumbent Pete Anzia is being challenged by Trustee Clem Gottsacker for village president.

It’s not the first time the two are vying for the position. Last spring, after Village President Vickie Boehnlein resigned and was hired as village treasurer, Anzia and Gottsacker were nominated to fill Boehnlein’s role.

The Village Board needed three votes over two meetings and an appearance by Trustee Dale Pfeifer, who rarely attended meetings since he works second shift, before Anzia was appointed on a 4-2 vote.

Anzia got votes from Pfeifer, trustees Rose Sauers, Josh Borden and himself. Gottsacker got votes from Trustee Don Gotcher and himself.

In other races, the village’s ballot is one trustee short. Sauers and Borden are running again, but Pfeifer filed non-candidacy papers and nobody else turned in papers to be on the ballot. The hole on the ballot means whoever receives the most write-in votes has the option to become trustee.

Pfeifer survived a petition to be removed from the board filed by Gotcher in fall that cited Pfeifer missing 15 of the 17 Village Board meetings in 2017 and eight of the first 10 in 2018. The vote was 3-2 to deny the petition and keep Pfeifer on the board. Gottsacker and Victor Lecato voted for it. Anzia, Sauers and Borden voted to deny it. Gottsacker and Pfeifer weren’t allowed to vote.

In the Town of Belgium, all the incumbents are running unopposed, including Town Chairman Tom Winker, supervisors Tom Bichler and Bill Janeshek, Clerk Ginger Murphy and Treasurer Dayle Parks.

For the Cedar Grove-Belgium School Board, incumbents Chad Hoopman and Lori Gruell are running unopposed.