Wiecher Unseats Lauter in Hard Fought Shrewsbury Election

After a vigorous campaign, Dee Wiecher has won the Shrewsbury Board of Aldermen election in Ward 2. She will begin her two-year term on the board in May.

The race was fought primarily over the controversial plan to redevelop the blighted Kenrick Plaza with a Walmart Supercenter. and argued that the board of aldermen should be more transparent in its dealings with developer GJ Grewe and more open to citizen input on the project. Her opponent, , argued that sales tax revenue from the redevelopment was the best way out of the city’s without cutting city jobs and services.

“I am glad we had a vehicle for the people to speak their own voice,” Wiecher said. “We were able to express that there are a number of people out there who do not want a Walmart.”

“It wasn’t my win, it was a group win here," she said. “Hopefully, the aldermen will listen to us now."

According to the unofficial final results from the St. Louis County website, Wiecher received 198 votes for 44 percent of the vote. Lauter received 173 votes for 38 percent. , the third candidate who also opposed the Walmart plan, received 81 votes for 18 percent of the total.

In Shrewsbury’s Ward 3, where incumbent Mike Travaglini was running unopposed, 49 write-in ballots were cast, 23 percent of the vote. Wiecher said that this, perhaps even more than her own election, proved that many people in the city were upset about the redevelopment plan.

Wiecher said that her first order of business when she takes her seat is to study an unabridged copy of the budget to understand the details she hasn’t had access to as a citizen.

“I think that my tired old eyes will be fresh eyes for looking at this budget,” she said.

She said that she thinks there may be ways to improve the city’s budget situation without either layoffs of public employees or moving forward on the Kenrick redevelopment.

“I believe that part of the reason for the deficit is the state of the economy. The economy is coming back, but it isn’t back yet. Like the citizens of Shrewsbury who tightened their belts for the economy, the city should look for ways to ease the deficit until it recovers,” Wiecher said.

At the time of publication, Greg Lauter could not be reached for comment. Neither could Shrewsbury Mayor Felicity Buckley.

John Odenwald said he had a great time with the campaign and intends to run for public office again in the future.

“I went out and did my best. I’m happy with the results that I got. I got quite a few comments from people saying that, if I was older, they would have voted for me,” said Odenwald, who is 24 years old.

Though during his campaign Odenwald, like Wiecher, mostly opposed the Walmart plan, in an interview Wednesday he thought Lauter would have brought more passion to the board than Wiecher will.

“She ran for one reason and one reason only,” he said.

When asked whether she anticipates trouble getting along with the other members of the board, who have been united in their support for the redevelopment project, Wiecher said, “I have very rarely had problems getting along with other people, if they choose to get along with me. I think it would be their choice.”