First Ward sees lone contested seat for Galesville city council

Only one seat in the Galesville City Council race will be contested in the April 5 election, as incumbent Randy Larson faces Tory-Kale Schultz in the first ward.

Incumbents Kelly Kreger and Jean Wallner are running unopposed.

Larson, 66, has served on the council for the last seven years and has never been on the ballot before. 

He has earned his seat as a write-in candidate multiple times after originally replacing a council member who died while in the middle of their term.

He declined an interview regarding the election, saying he was asked to go on the ballot for the first time by family and friends. He said he wants the community to make its own decision regarding who they want in office.

“Re-elect Randy Larson, ward one,” he told the Times.

Larson’s opponent, 44-year-old Tory-Kale Schultz, lived in Galesville until middle school before his family moved. He joined the Navy before attending Winona State University for a degree in education. 

He currently works as a producer and on-air talent for WKBT in La Crosse and co-owns The Main Fox, a salon on Main Street in Galesville.

Schultz is running for office because he wants to give back as a third generation Galesville resident.

“I have creative ideas, and I have a profound desire to grow Galesville. There is a significant amount of opportunity for Galesville to be better than it is, and it just takes some more ideas and somebody who is willing to listen to a lot of different people and ideas.”

If elected, Schultz said he would work to help the city promote itself more proactively, especially in the downtown area.

“We can improve a lot of little quality of life things like better pedestrian crossings. It blows my mind at how we have a lake in our town and we are not utilizing it as best we can. But the big one is promoting and marketing our town for outside people and businesses.”