Editor-

I would like to thank the residents of the Village (of Gays Mills) for their overwhelming support for my term on the village board. I have been glad to hear from many of you on issues affecting the village and to try to get these issues corrected or at least dealt with enough to satisfy our residents. But when I learned that no one had submitted paperwork to run for the three open positions on the village board, that's when I knew you like me. You really like me! Your confidence in my abilities, although perhaps a little misguided, have made me feel very good about my decision to join our board.

That said, the village, even with me on the board, cannot operate properly without a full board of actively engaged residents and I hope you will take the opportunity to get involved in the village to ensure our town continues into the future. Geraldine, Al and I cannot do this on our own.

My advice to the electors of Gays Mills, I know you don't want it, but you're going to get it anyway, is to vote for Paul J. (Jim) Lomas Jr. and Del Flitsch.

 Jim Lomas grew up in our area before joining the military and then working away from our valley.  But he has returned home with a world of experiences, including being the village president of another Wisconsin town, and is willing to help us figure out how to keep our village solvent for years to come.

Del has operated businesses in Gays Mills for many years and has vast experience as a plumber as well. He can help us figure out how to keep the water and sewer departments from losing money every year, as well as how to be fiscally responsible enough to meet our obligations even in the leanest of local economies.

I have known Del and his wife Julia for many years. They have been good friends and sound business people the village could count on in good times and bad.

Jim Lomas has lived here in the village for many years. He has retired, but still gets out and works hard every day. He has ties to the village that go well beyond family and friends. He is a good man and I trust him to make the village a better place by working with residents, old and new, to bring in more residents, businesses and tourism.

With those two write-in candidates we will still be one short to fill the board. You have an amazing chance to serve your local village with just a couple hours a month required of you to attend meetings and go over issues. We need one more resident to come forward and take up the task of leading our village. It can be a thankless job that may eat into your time more than you may want, but if you don't step-up as Del and Jim have, you very well may not have a voice in the future of our village. Let's work together, share the load among us and make the village somewhere we can be proud to call home.

I have contacted many others and asked them to run and have been turned down by most of them. One is "thinking it over" and another, who would add great beauty, wit and charm to the board told me, "Not only no, but HELL NO!"

In other news, I see there are several homes for sale in Gays Mills. If you would like me to mention them in my letters, we can work something out I’m sure. 

Also, I have heard from sources that shall remain nameless, keep quiet Jay Haggerty, that there have been serious inquiries into renting space from the village in the Mercantile Center. I would like to point out that none of the requests have been formally addressed by the village board since I have been on it. I for one would have liked to have seen what the requests were and presented to the board for a vote. I for one would rather have some rent from the empty spaces than no rent at all.

-John R. Johnson