By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
HOWARD – The Howard village board is now back to full strength following the appointment of a new trustee for Wards 7-8, Monday, Sept. 24.
Board members unanimously approved the selection of John Muraski to replace Mike Hoppe, who resigned this summer.
Muraski’s appointment runs through April 2019 when the seat will be up for election.
Village President Burt McIntyre noted Muraski, an assistant business professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, was one of four individuals who applied for the vacant trustee seat along with Mary Verheyen, Daniel Kussow and Steve Schmidt.
In making the recommendation of Muraski, McIntyre was assisted by trustees Adam Lemorande and Craig McAllister in the interview process.
“It went very well as we designed it to do it, and the process works,” McIntyre said. “I thank Trustee McAllister and Trustee Lemorande for their help. It was invaluable, the assistance they gave, and it made the process a whole lot easier.”
Muraski has been married for 23 years to his wife, Linda, and has two sons, Alexander, a freshman at UW-Milwaukee, and Calvin, a sophomore at Bay Port High School. He has no previous involvement in village government. But he has earned a bachelor’s degree from UW-Green Bay in political science with a minor in public administration.
Muraski also earned a master’s degree in information systems from UW-Oshkosh and a doctorate degree in business administration from UW-Whitewater.
He is the second Howard village trustee to be appointed in recent months. Scott Beyer was appointed July 23 to fill the trustee vacancy in Wards 9-10 after Jim Lemorande passed away in June.
The appointed terms for both Muraski and Beyer expire next April.