By City Times staff

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Wisconsin Rapids City leaders have appointed Vernon “Bud” Verjinsky to fill the District 2 alder seat, which became vacant upon the resignation of Lee Graf.

The city had five applicants for the position, which were vetted during the Sept. 17 common council meeting.

“It was really nice to see a diverse amount of applicants – both in gender, male female applicants, as well as in experience, both those that were very inexperienced with city government, and those that were very experienced and had either served on the city council or mayor, in one case,” Mayor Zach Vruwink said in an interview with WFHR.

“So, there was a very long election process. We had six members of the council present, one (was gone) due to the vacancy as well as one absence. We had to vote a number of times to narrow the field down and to select a candidate.”

Verjinsky served as mayor for the city from 1994 to 2002.

“Bud was the mayor for a number of years and served the city in the Department of Public Works, in a variety of capacities. He worked out at the airport as the airport manager and a number of other contributions to the city,” Vruwink added.

Verjinsky will serve the district until the term ends in April.