Bill Schikora, a retired insurance executive and eight-year Villages resident, was selected Friday to fill a vacant supervisor position in Community Development District 2.
Schikora replaces Supervisor Nick Jones, who passed away in early October, one day after his 80th birthday.
I have a general interest in the operation of local government,” Schikora told four other supervisors before a majority voted for him to fill the seat. “I just want to make The Villages as good a place or as better a place as it can be.”
A former resident of Kalamazoo, Mich., Schikora has extensive experience in child welfare. He served on the Governor’s Task Force on Children’s Justice and as a guardian ad litem, or child legal advocate, with the Kalamazoo County Family Court. He also was a volunteer with the Mormon Genealogy Library.
In The Villages, he attended the Community Development Orientation Seminar in 2007 and the resident academy earlier this year. He also is active with the Villages Democrats.
Schikora said his health insurance business taught him some political skills.
A tall man, he dwarfed District Clerk Jennifer McQueary, who administered the oath of office.
Schikora was selected from among three candidates, although candidate Louis Amici did not attend the meeting, reportedly due to health issues.
Andrew Aschmann, a two-year Villages resident, said his 30 years as a small business owner and co-founder of a metropolitan plumbers association in Poughskeepie, N.Y., qualified him for the post.
Besides his CDD 2 service, Jones was well-known as a leader of The Villages Airheads, a support group for those with chronic pulmonary disease. He moved to The Villages from the Tampa area in 1999 and was active in many other organizations, especially those related to lung disease.
