Three vie for chance to fill vacant County Board seat

A landscape architect, a small-business owner and a schoolteacher are competing in Tuesday's primary election to fill a vacant seat on the Milwaukee County Board.

Wauwatosa Ald. Jason Wilke, Nicholas Hunt and Edward Cullen the son of the former supervisor who held the seat want to represent the board's 15th District in the final year before major changes are coming, including a pay cut, reduced authority and a part-time job status for supervisors.

Wilke, 42, is the only candidate with experience in public elective office. He has served on the Wauwatosa Common Council since 2009. He works as a landscape architect with the Waukesha County Parks Department.

Hunt, 34, is the owner of Nova Energy & Automation in Milwaukee, maker of power distribution panels for medical imaging equipment, and a few other businesses. He described himself as an entrepreneur with a work history as an accountant and financial analyst for General Electric and Johnson Controls.

Cullen, 23, who goes by Eddie, is a first-grade teacher at the Lloyd St. campus of Milwaukee College Prep, a public charter school.

A special nonpartisan election is needed to fill the seat vacated by the resignation of David Cullen. Cullen was elected Milwaukee County treasurer in November.

The top two finishers in the primary will compete in the April 7 general election. The winner will represent the district for the final year of the term.

The district on the west side of the county extends from the north edge of West Milwaukee and the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center through Milwaukee neighborhoods to the east side of Wauwatosa before turning west toward the intersection of U.S. Highway 45 and Capitol Drive.

After the April 2016 election, supervisor terms will change from four years to two, under a 2013 state law known as Act 14. The law also took away the Milwaukee board's power to negotiate contracts and land sales.

At the same time, supervisor pay will be cut in half, to about $24,051 a year, to comply with a 2014 referendum required by the law. The board chairman's salary also will drop 50%, to about $36,000.

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Three vie for chance to fill vacant County Board seat