MUSKEGO, Wis. — It is mayor versus mayor in Muskego. The mayoral race has incumbent Rick Petfalski going up against his predecessor Kathy Chiaverotti.
Muskego residents heading to the polls say a couple of issues are helping to shape their choice and who will be the next mayor. The first is public safety, specifically if something needs to change with the city’s fire department, which is fully volunteer.
"They said they are having a hard time getting recruits, that was kind of a big issue," Muskego voter Brian Guzikowski said.
"I’m just concerned about the safety of our community," Muskego voter Sherry Wanta said.
The Tess Corners Fire Department, which serves all of Muskego, was instrumental in rescuing homeowners during last August's floods. Petfalski is looking into different pay models and if the city has outgrown a fully volunteer department. Chiaverotti, who TMJ4 caught with as she was traveling on the road for Easter, questions why these kinds of discussions haven't been more public-facing.
"There has not been a public safety committee meeting discussing this, which I find unusual. So, I think everybody, including myself, is… we're a little in the dark," Chiaverotti said.
Watch: Mayor versus mayor for the City of Muskego
"We have hired a consultant to see how we compare on other communities our size. And see if we need to shore up any of that. If we need to make any adjustment in funding, manpower, the structure of the department," Petfalski said.
People are also worried about roads in the city, which they say need some major work.
"People complaining about the roads and funds being moved around," Muskego voter Tom Fellin said.
The debate is how to pay for repairs.
"The proposal by the current mayor is to borrow $5 million every other year for 15 years. What he's recommending is shifting away from the operating budget use of the dollars for roads to strictly borrowing. That concerns me," Chiaverotti said.
"Starting this year we have increased the budget to $2.9 million from $750,000 and we are accomplishing that by doing a borrowing every two years. It will have a slight impact for three years and then will level off and shouldn’t have any impact as old debt drops off," Petfalski said.
If you still have an absentee ballot and you want your vote to count, the City of Muskego says you can bring them to City Hall on Monday otherwise, bring them to your polling location on Election Day.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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