Board approves Kral as next county administrator

By Kris Leonhardt

Editor-in-chief

KEWAUNEE COUNTY – During its Feb. 6 meeting, the Kewaunee County Board of Supervisors appointed Jeremy Kral as the next county administrator.

The county had nine applications for the administrator’s position and the search committee recommended that three individuals move forward for a final interview in late January, from which Kral was selected.

Kral was previously employed as the executive director of Brown County Health & Human Services and at one time served as the mayor and council president/alder for the city of Montello.

“My approach is very service-minded; interested in being a great contributor to the Kewaunee County community. I’ve always been, you know, service-driven and community-oriented; that’s what drove me to work in social work, where I’ve been a successful human services leader for 15 years as well as an elected official of Montello City Council and a former mayor there,” Kral said.

“So, I have seen a few of the things that you all deal with from your elected seats as well.

“I wanted to especially highlight that my family and I really have enjoyed visiting the Kewaunee County area. We get out on the trails a lot, spend some time down by the water, grab a bite to eat. We really have loved the area as visitors and so I’m really appreciative of the chance to come here and work here and serve you and the communities in that capacity as well.

“I’m chomping at the bit to get to know each of you as board members and know what your priorities are for the county and how we can work together to go in that direction as well as to work closely with the department heads and really leverage their expertise to bring us to where we want to go,” he told the board.”

Kral added that he would “be doing some research and learning as much as I can even before that to try and be as effective as I can early on in my tenure.”

The appointment was approved 19-0 by county supervisors.

Former county administrator Ed Dorner has been serving as interim Kewaunee County administrator during the search.

Kral will start in the position on Feb. 19.

Treml appointed as highway commissioner

The board also appointed Marty Treml to the position of Kewaunee County Highway Commissioner

“The actual start date will be the end of June. The reason for that is because he is currently in the military. He is from the county and does own a home already in the county,” said Kewaunee County Chairman Dan Olson.

“The reason we decided to make things work until the end of June is because he has 23 years of military experience and, basically, if you would look at his experience, it lines up perfectly with what we want in a highway commissioner.

“And we thank the U.S. military for training him for us, and we will now reap the fruits of that.

“We do have a system in place to get by and make things work until he comes at the end of June.

“We will be back for a period of one to two weeks beforehand. I believe he has some leave available.”