Mary Lemmen, town of Oconto Falls treasurer for the past 30 years, made a memorable exit from office last week, when she lost in a coin toss to challenger Sue Konitzer.
Both candidates received 124 votes in the April 7 election. Lemmen was at the polls when the votes were counted, but left before the coin toss.
“I was surprised, but I’m sure Sue will do a good job,” she said.
Lemmen decided against requesting a recount, citing the accuracy of the voting machines used for the election.
Town Chairman Dave Alsteen said he knew of no other town election that resulted in a tie.
“Sorry to say, somebody had to win and somebody had to lose. They’re both good people,” he said.
He said Konitzer’s background in banking will be an asset in her new role as treasurer.
Tuesday’s annual meeting will be Lemmen’s final official responsibility as town treasurer, although she plans to assist Konitzer transition to her new role.
“It’s been a good 30 years,” Lemmen said, then paused and added, “It doesn’t seem like 30 years.”
She said she just kept at it, season after season.
The primary duties of the treasurer are to collect taxes and balance the town’s checking account. Lemmen said she will miss the work itself and the interaction with the people she encountered as treasurer.
“I thank the people for the cooperation over the years,” she said.
Lemmen, 80, is a retired dairy farmer who worked part time for 10 years in the Oconto County treasurer’s office. She is treasurer of HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital Auxiliary and Oconto County Partnership and secretary-treasurer of the Oconto unit of Wisconsin Towns Association.
To determine a winner April 7, the poll workers drew the candidates’ names from a container, assigning “heads” to the first name pulled, which was Lemmen’s name, and assigning “tails” to Konitzer. When tails landed face up, Konitzer was pronounced the winner.
Konitzer said poll workers called her at 9:30 p.m. April 7, alerting her to the tie vote. She, too, was surprised by the outcome.
“Crazy! What are the odds?” Konitzer said, describing her initial reaction.
Konitzer said she knew it would be a challenge to compete against Lemmen because she had been treasurer for so many years and had many loyal supporters.
“I think the world of Mary,” she said, noting that Lemmen called her Wednesday to congratulate her on the win.
Konitzer, 62, retired from Wells Fargo Bank three years ago, after 26 years in banking. Since 2011, she has served as treasurer for Little Hearts for Life, a local nonprofit charity that has donated $73,000 to Children’s Hospital Milwaukee for pediatric heart research. She said she looks forward to taking office.
“I’m just excited about doing the job,” she said. “I feel very comfortable going into the job and doing the best job I can.”
According to Clerk Mike Kaczmarek, 251 of the 780 registered voters cast ballots on April 7, a 33 percent turnout.
“It’s actually a pretty good turnout,” he said.
In Oconto County, 7,710 residents voted, which was 26 percent of eligible voters.
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