Hurley welcomes its first female mayor

By ZACHARY MARANO

zmarano@yourdailyglobe.com

Hurley — Following the Iron County general elections on April 5, Joanne Bruneau was appointed the first female mayor of the city of Hurley. Bruneau outlined her plans for the next two years in broad strokes for the Daily Globe on Tuesday.

“My goals are to improve the city’s infrastructure, secure infrastructure money for repairs that need to be done and work with the department heads to keep the city running as efficiently as possible,” Bruneau told the Daily Globe.

Bruneau said that she was initially planning to support the previous mayor, Jay “Budgey” Aijala, in the general elections. However, Aijala chose not to run for re-election because his other duties – including his positions as teacher associate and elementary athletic coordinator at the Hurley School District and being a father – left him “too spread out” to continue serving as mayor, Bruneau said.

After discussing her plans with Aijala, Bruneau said she ran unopposed for the position with the previous mayor’s blessing. Bruneau did not say if she plans to run for re-election at the end of her two-year term in 2024, as she thinks the next two years might be her last on the city council. If this is the case, her mayorship will cap off a 16-year run on the city council.

Bruneau said that she will leverage her 14 years of experience on the city council and 25 years of experience in banking to help her accomplish her goals in her two years as mayor, which consist primarily of securing grant funding for infrastructure projects.

Bruneau said that a long-term plan has already been set in place for maintaining city infrastructure in Hurley one section at a time. She said that she will stay on top of things to keep these projects on schedule.

Among these projects is the continued replacement of water meters in the city of Hurley through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ lead service line replacement program. The city was awarded $250,000 dollars for new water meters in 2021 and the same amount of money this year.

At the previous Hurley City Council meeting on April 12, the council said that they hope to have water meters shipped as soon as possible so they can get the system up and running in mid-July and smooth out any problems before fall and winter for a smoother transition.

City council members Stephanie Innes-Smith, Jamey Francis, Robert Lanctoe and Thomas Conhartoski were also appointed to the city council for another two years in the general elections. New members Joseph Pinardi and Rita Franzoi ran uncontested for the two empty seats on the city council and were also appointed to serve two-year terms.