Mary Bix resigns from county board 
by Brian Wilson
The Star News
February 11, 2010 —  Long time county board member Mary Bix has given up her District 3 seat so that she may challenge incumbent Jim Seidl in District 2.
A spokesman for the state agency that oversees elections said it would have been entirely up to the county board to decide if a supervisor who moved from one district to another and is challenging the incumbent in that district can remain in office prior to the election.
According to Reid Magney, public information officer with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections in the state, it is a purely local decision if Supervisor Mary Bix should be allowed to fill out the remainder of her term in office.
Bix is the long-time supervisor from District 3 of the Taylor County Board representing wards five and six in the City of Medford, which comprises the southwest corner of the city. Last spring, the house Bix lived in on Cedar Street was sold at auction by Taylor County to cover back property taxes owed on it.
At the time she moved from the residence, into an apartment in an adjoining district, she had stated an intent to move back into District 3. According to Magney state law requires elected officials to live in the district they represent. However, in practice the rule has been rather loosely applied around the state with the definition of who is a resident left more often than not to the discretion of the local voters.
A question of residency was raised this winter when Bix filed nomination papers challenging Supervisor Jim Seidl for the District 2 seat representing wards three and four in the City of Medford.
The law grants provisions for people who are temporarily dislocated from their homes, such as if they are victims of a fire. Magney cited Assembly Speaker John Sheridan who is going through a divorce and in the process has moved from his home and is currently not residing his district.
In the case of Sheridan and Bix, since they are already in office, Magney explains that it is up to the bodies they belong to, to determine their fate rather than the Government Accountability Board. Magney said Taylor County Clerk Bruce Strama contacted the state board regarding the issue and was told it was up to the county to take action on it if they so chose.
In a resignation letter dated, February 3, Bix stated: “County Clerk Bruce Strama has informed me that someone has challenged my representation of Taylor County District 3. The objection apparently stems from the facts, that since I have filed as a candidate in District 2, I no longer intend to move back to District 3. Subsequently, any future votes in which I participate could be challenged. Since this would not allow my district 3 constituents to get representation, I have decided to resign as the District 3 supervisor.”

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