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Elkhorn narrows mayor field to two

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James Boardman Sr.

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Gary L. Payson

Age: 58

Address: 1229 Robincrest Lane

Job: Production planner and buyer for SPX in Delavan

Education: Wilmot High School, courses at various colleges.

Community service: Traffic control officer for Elkhorn Police Department, security supervisor for the Walworth County Agricultural Society and representative to the Tri-City Steering Committee

Elected posts: Served as alderman in the 1990s and again from 2007-09.

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Howie E. Reynolds

ELKHORN — Howie Reynolds and James Boardman Sr. are advancing to the April election ballot as Elkhorn's mayoral candidates.

Reynolds, who has been the District 1 alderman for the last nine years, led Tuesday’s primary election with 317 votes, followed by 288 votes cast for Boardman, who has served three terms on the city council. The last-placed candidate, Gary Payson Sr., received 126 votes.

“I want to continue infra-structure projects—getting more roads fixed,” Reynolds said Tuesday evening. “And I want to make sure that all of city of Elkhorn employees, particularly middle management, are accessible to people.

“I just want to have a nice city that everybody is happy about.”

Boardman said his campaign would continue to focus on reducing spending and increasing scrutiny of projects at the city council. The candidate said the council tends to pass proposals too quickly and approve expensive projects with little discussion.

“We're spending too much,” he said after the results were in. “Everybody else is cutting.”

Boardman said city officials could tighten up on hiring and use equipment a little longer, instead of replacing police squad cars too soon or raising taxes to cover costs.

In a previous interview, Reynolds said as mayor he would aim to not raise taxes while maintaining service levels.

“They've been real good at that,” he said of city officials. “And we can see if there are cheaper ways of doing things than we do now.

Boardman has served as an EMT on Elkhorn's rescue team, worked as police officer and served as president of the Elkhorn Police and Fire Commission.

Reynolds has coached and officiated sports events at Elkhorn schools and local churches for at least 15 years.

The candidates said they would focus on knocking on doors and posting signs to get the word out about their campaign in anticipation of April's election.