If you live in Kenosha’s 6th district, you have two chances to vote – February 15, 2022 and April 5th. After the primary, only two candidates will face each other head to head. We sent questionnaires to the three candidates and their responses are below. The order in which they are displayed was selected randomly.

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Kenosha Residents: Click here to enter your address to learn which Aldermanic district you are in.

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Brandi Rose Ferree

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Brandi is a compassionate community member who enjoys getting involved by volunteering and serving with local Non-Profits. She is currently Treasurer of the Friends of Hawthorn Hollow board, formerly a Board Member of Garden of Eatin’ -Kenosha, and a regular volunteer for Grace Welcome Center. Her service shows her passion and care for the environment.
She has been dedicated to improving the environment of District 6 by coordinating the Washington Park Clean Up in Spring 2021 where 10 contractor bags of plastics, glass, and debris were collected from the watershed. Over the last year she has also coordinated a food drive & winter supply drive benefiting Grace Welcome Center, & school supply drive benefiting Grant & Jefferson Elementary, Washington Middle School, and Bradford High School.

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Age 32

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Occupation

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Purchasing Agent and Estimator for MC Home Builders LLC.

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Why are you running for the City Council?

I’m running for office so everyone feels safe & connected to our community. Kenosha has a history that binds us, especially in District 6 with Peter Pirsch, PepsiCo, DeRangos; it also has a future full of new distinct small businesses like Smarties Sweet Treats and the possibilities in store with the KIN. I’m running for office so that every child in Kenosha sees they can build on our history and find a future here.

Through my involvement in the community I have witnessed areas in which society falls short for members of the community. I care about people, and believe an Alderperson’s first responsibility is to care for citizens’ needs and be a liaison for them to the city. I’m a listener, not a talker and I’m happy to listen to the needs of the community and negotiate a balance of citizen & city needs in order to find the best outcome for our community.

Over the past few years I’ve seen people become frustrated because they feel like they aren’t being heard. I empathize and I want to do better for District 6. I’m interested in hearing from everyone, to discover the root of the issue and solving that issue together. I want to make sure that everyone sees a future in Kenosha.

If elected to the City Council what will your three biggest priorities be?

The prominent issues in our community include reducing violence, reducing the effects of climate change on our community, and ensuring that leadership is listening to constituents’ concerns and making compassionate decisions.

We have an opportunity to reduce community violence by breaking cycles of retaliation and de-escalating reactions to stress, as well as creating stable neighborhoods via environmental design. An opportunity is present in proposed infrastructure. Solar panels have advanced to a point that they are a financially viable solution to utility production. They have been proven to provide significant savings over the lifetime of the equipment vs purchasing traditional grid power. The new City Hall, Downtown Auditorium, and KIN infrastructure the city is proposing have the longevity to justify investing in rooftop solar in order to save the city budget money in operations costs over the long term.

Please explain how you will make yourself available to constituents.

I will be available via phone, email and regular office hours to listen to citizens’ concerns.

How did the city handle the 2020 riots?

I support the “Resolution to Express Support for De-Escalation Alternatives to the Use of Tear Gas, Riot Control Agents and Non-Lethal  Rounds for the Use of Crowd Control and Establish Methodologies to Explore Alternatives” which was unfortunately defeated in Council on September 8th, 2021. Those affected by the actions described in this resolution include Kenosha citizens as well as Journalists from the NYT, Getty, and CBS58, Street Medics who were injured or arrested for exercising their first amendment rights. The disproportionate response from KCSD leadership has resulted in lawsuits and dismissed charges as the curfew was deemed unconstitutional, not to mention the physical and emotional damage done to our community. It is concerning to see the lack of proactive steps taken to de-escalate and prevent damage like that from being done to our citizens & our community again.  I firmly believe that a review of options and creation of clear policy for protecting people’s 1st amendment rights to peaceful assembly and prevent more physical and emotional damage on the scale of 2020 from happening again will create a better future for District 6 & the city. Kenosha has the opportunity to be a leader for the rest of the country by establishing best practices in handling community crises and social unrest. It is imperative that we immediately equip our public safety staff with de-escalation training and utilize mental health professionals’ advice as resources for interactions with the public.

Dave Paff (i)

Age   56

Occupation

Retired Firefighter, former U.S. Navy Corpsman, former Deputy Sheriff

Why are you running for the City Council?

To be a caretaker of the public community.  Kenosha is a great town with good people who want to keep things nice and maintained.  I want to see the completion of the 22nd Avenue repaving project that extends from the far north to the far south side of town. The Dream Playground is now a part of district 6 and I want to see the security aspect of that facility maintained to discourage vandalism.  I want to see local business increase as many where devastated by the government mandated policies over the last two years while big corporations where deemed essential and could remain open.  We need to keep our local taxes from jumping to pay for all the government spending that has been happening under the Biden administration.  The critical issue that goes to the heart of our republic is election integrity.  We cannot allow further corruption to invade the voting process.  2020 showed everyone how important it is to have legal voting – one vote per legal citizen.

If elected to the City Council what will your three biggest priorities be?  

1. Curbing violence in the streets – City Administration must address the shootings, homicides and general violence that seems to have found a home in the City of Kenosha.

2.  Keeping taxes in check as government is always wanting to raise them.

3.  Street resurfacing, repair and pedestrian walkways need attention and I want to continue to work to have those repairs and upgrades made.

Please explain how you will make yourself available to constituents

 I will always be available to the constituents via telephone and email.  Now that the pandemic is over, people will be out and about which includes me.  I have been known to stop by to chat with residents out in the community to discuss various issues.

Do you believe the city administration responded appropriately to the Kenosha riots of 2020? 

No. I was appalled at the rioting and violence that took place over the Summer of 2020. I was very vocal in the community and on social media demanding the violence be stopped.

I did not see our elected leaders condemn the violence but I did see some coddle and support the rioting. I saw state level politicians explain away the violence and the media seemed to revel in the actions of the criminal element and Marxist lead demonstrators.

When people have a cause, I will always support them but when Antifa and BLM come to town to tear up property, start fires and beat up citizens, the leaders of the police department and Sheriffs department need to protect and serve the community or the citizens will. 

Ryan Havron

Age: 38

Occupation

Construction Industry

Bio

I was born in Kenosha at St. Catherine’s hospital when it was originally located on Sheridan Rd and 35th St and have lived here for over 30 years. We moved around the city a bit when I was younger and then my parents bought their house in 1991 where they still live. I attended Grant, Washington and Lakeview Technology Academy where I was the first graduating class. After high school, I went to school at Gateway Technical College and graduated with two Civil Engineering degrees in Architecture and Structural Engineering. I’ve worked for multiple General Contractors in the Kenosha and Milwaukee area in the past 17 years. In addition to this I fulfilled my lifelong dream of serving in the Army as an Infantryman in the Wisconsin Army National Guard. When I was growing up my parents owned ORyan’s Video, small business on the north side of town. Many of my neighbors now were our customers back then and I still get recognized out in the neighborhood. All these experiences have strongly helped shape me and I would not be who I am without every single one of them.

Why are you running for the City Council?

I grew up in this neighborhood. My son is now growing up here and my parents still live on 35^th St and 10^th Ave. It has always been a safe place to be. I moved back here with the intention of giving back as much as I can. At some point in time, I’ll be gone, but the neighborhood will still be here. To do anything other than leave it better than when I found it is irresponsible. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more aware of what it means to give back and serve others. It’s really something that I’ve found to give great meaning to my life. When I was out getting signatures to get put on the ballot, I brought my son with. It wasn’t to gain sympathy with prospective voters, but so that way he could see his Dad doing the work. I hope to instill that in him so that he can keep moving forward and do good during his life as well.

If elected to the City Council what will your three biggest priorities be?

I feel like there’s 2 distinct functions of the Alderman seat.

First, you need to make wise legislative choices. Address issues that affect the city and be open to working with other Aldermen to make changes. You should be involved in a committee that you have experience in and one that falls more into the civic side. For me, I would focus on Public Works as I have a background in Civil Engineering and Construction. I would also love the opportunity to serve on a parks or museum committee. I think they’re equally important to keeping the City moving forward.

Second, I feel like you really need to get out an interact within your neighborhood. It’s important to build a sense of community pride that will encourage other to care and get involved. We all know there is certain areas of the City that more desirable than others. I see no reason why we couldn’t bring the 6^th District up to that standard as well. With that as the goal, there’s plenty of opportunity for community events and a regular engagement that we don’t usually see around here.

Finally, I think it’s important to have a strong sense of accountability within ourselves. We have to realize that the government, on any level, is not going to take care of us entirely. We need to understand how best to work with each other and with the City government. I think this all falls under the goal of taking care of our neighbors and keeping our neighborhood safe. I’m sure most people agree it feels like there has been a steady increase in incidents that are threatening the safety and quality of life of our City. This is something we just cannot accept.

Please explain how you will make yourself available to constituents.

I’m very active on Facebook (@RyanHavron6thDistrict) where I have a page specifically for the Alderman position. Here is where I share information and have alternate ways to be contacted. I understand not everyone has Facebook, so I also have a number that rings directly to my cell phone and an email address for individuals who prefer to get in contact those ways. One of the reasons I specifically chose the Alderman position to direct my efforts is that there is very close contact with the people I would serve. In most cases we’re no more than 5 minutes apart. I want to have as much of an affect to the people directly around me and this is a great way to do it. I also plan on setting up an email list to be able to send out a monthly newsletter. My National Guard unit does this and it’s a great way to put out information in a consistent format that everyone has access to and ensure accurate and effective communication. On top of all of this, I do intend on finding a location where we can all meet up, ideally every 3-4 months, to have an in person discussion. I think having that personal connection between the people you serve and yourself is critical.

Do you believe the city administration responded appropriately to the Kenosha riots of 2020?

I’m not really prepared to “armchair quarterback” the topic. I certainly don’t have all the information, nor was I included in any of the discussions regarding the course of action. What I do know is it was a very unfortunate series of events where nobody came out the “winner”. I’m giving everyone the benefit of the doubt that they did the best that they could do in the situation as they’re all elected officials doing what’s best for the people who put their faith in them. We, as a city, have not experienced an event similar to this and my hope is that we’ve learned from that situation and we’ll be able to be more proactive in the future with our timing and actions. From what I’ve seen in the time since, I feel like this is the case. Also, while I feel like the City and the Community as a whole needs to take responsibility for what happen, it’s fairly obvious there was outside influences that contributed to the chaos. That does not reflect who we are as a City. Kenosha is a diverse and caring place. This was on full display as the response from the community stepped up to help local businesses clean graffiti and repair what was damaged. This shows that we can step up and take care of ourselves when we need to. I’m immensely proud of that and it was a major factor in my decision to remain in Kenosha and run for Alderman. It’s that show of respect for our neighbors and City that drives me to stay engaged within the community and do my part to give back.