Milan is holding a primary election on Tuesday. The biggest race is the mayoral primary, where two of three candidates move on to November.
Incumbent Mayor Ed Kolar was first elected in 2021 and seeks his third two-year term. He was previously a member of the Milan City Council and Mayor Pro-tem.
Kolar says if he’s reelected, he’ll continue to look for grants and other funding sources to improve the city’s aging infrastructure.
“People want to see the sidewalks and the parks and everything looking great, but they don’t understand the sewage plant and the water mains and sewer mains underneath the roads are in disrepair. They’re 80-plus years old, and, at some point, someone has to fix them.”
Danette Talbot is a Milan business owner and unsuccessfully ran against Kolar two years ago. She says she’s not a politician and would run an open city government.
“I’m honest. I’m as transparent as transparent gets. In fact, I’m too honest. And a lot of times the answers I give aren’t able to be printed because of that.”
The third candidate in the primary is Laura Russeau. She’s a longtime advocate and organizer and is self-employed as part of a local handyman’s business. She ran for Milan City Council two years ago.
Russeau decided to run for mayor after becoming frustrated with the nation’s current political climate and its effects locally. She says she wants to bring the community together.
“I feel like, in our small city, we’re a little vulnerable to what’s happening around us. I think that the land around us could potentially be used, not in ways that would be beneficial to us.”
The top two candidates will move on to the general election in November.
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