Brandt returns to city hall following special election

ANTIGO — At a meeting Wednesday night, city council members elected former Antigo mayor Bill Brandt to temporarily fill the council’s vacant ward 2 seat.

Council members voted 5-3 for Brandt over county board member Roy Dieck in the special election, which was required following the resignation of former Ward 2 councilwoman Sandy Fischer, who withdrew from the body in mid-April for health reasons.

Both candidates made their cases as to why they belonged on the council prior to the vote.

“I feel I’ve got a lot to offer the city yet, and the second ward,” Brandt said. “I have no problem representing my ward. I think I know how the city functions. I think I know how the city departments function, responsibilities, city finance, all those sorts of things, so I bring that insight with me. I’ve worked with several of you, I think to many successful projects for the City of Antigo as a whole, and if I’m the second ward alderman, I’ll work to move the city forward to the best interest of the people in my ward.”

In the first portion of his speech, Dieck said he had “lived in the history that many of you talk about.”

“I lived that life of camaraderie where the neighbors could walk and visit each other, and the life was completely different,” Dieck said. “As some of you older folks know at least, every Friday night, all of them came to Antigo, and you couldn’t hardly walk up and down the sidewalks of downtown Antigo. You couldn’t get in the Dixie Lunch — you’d be lucky to get inside. It was standing room only. That’s the way the camaraderie was here. That is a big change from the way it is now, a big change, and my feeling is that we’re going to see more changes. It’s going to keep on, and we might as well adapt ourselves to it and educate ourselves by learning what has happened over the years.”

Brandt will serve as the Ward 2 Alderman until April 2025, when Fischer’s term was due to expire.