Two years ago, Bob Breu, CPSS, was known for participation, not politics. His long list of roles included president of the Omro (Wis.) Area Chamber of Commerce and member of the Omro Area Development Corporation. "I really wasn't interested in politics," he says. "I was interested in making a difference."
Professionally, Breu makes a difference daily. He's vice
president of Printco Inc., a manufacturer in Omro, and chairman of the Advisory
Committee of the Society for Service Professionals in Printing (www.sspp.org ), an association for customer service representatives in the printing industry.
Bob Breu, CPSS, was elected mayor of Omro, Wis., in April. He's vice president of Printco Inc., a manufacturer in Omro, and chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Society for Service Professionals in Printing (www.sspp.org), an association for customer service representatives in the printing industry.
In 2000, Breu felt that city officials in Omro, an industrial city of approximately 3,200 residents that's located eight miles west of Oshkosh and 80 miles north of Milwaukee in Wisconsin's Fox River Valley, were losing contact with community organizations. He wanted to re-establish ties among Omro's businesses, organizations, schools and residents. "My friends kept nagging me to run for public office," Breu says. "Eventually, I said, 'OK, why don't you put me down as a write-in?'"
Enough of them did. As a write-in candidate, Breu won the Aldermanic District I seat and served a 2-year term on Omro's city council. On April 2, he was re-elected as a write-in candidate for alderman, but declined the position for good reason--Breu ran for city mayor and won. He received 358 votes, defeating his closest challenger by 128 votes.
Breu is a self-admitted "rookie" in the mayor's seat, but says he's looking forward to his 2-year term. "Because this is a small city, decisions really do affect everyone," he says. "I want to see groups in Omro work better as a team. So much is going on here."
One of the city's biggest issues, Breu says, is the state's $1.2 billion budget deficit. Because 35 percent of Omro's revenue is "shared revenue" from the state, "it's going to have to hurt somewhere," he says. "We're going to have to make some tough decisions" during the next three months, when city leaders develop Omro's 2003 budget.
"Communication is very important to me," says Breu, who plans to draw on his experiences associating with Printco's customers and vendors. "Dealing with people is something I'm comfortable doing."
Printco is a private company, though, and the city is public. "When we make decisions for the city, they're on record and affect many more folks," Breu says. "Certainly, some of them aren't afraid to say what they think. That's the way it should be. I'd like to get more people and more organizations involved, so a wider range of viewpoints are represented in Omro."
Serving as Omro's mayor is a part-time job--Breu expects to spend 10-15 hours weekly (mostly during evenings) on city matters "once things calm down a bit," he says--but he's embracing the commitment with full-time optimism. "The people of Omro are good people," Breu says. "They're hard-working and dedicated. As mayor, I want to do things that encourage that."
--Darin Painter
