STAPLES-Ryan Thomas and Greg Zylka joined the National Joint Powers Alliance board of directors, winning election in sub-region III and sub-region IV respectively.
Both will serve a four-year term. Thomas replaces Colleen Seelen, who ran for re-election, while Zylka replaces John Poston, who was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in November and did not run for NJPA board re-election.
"We thank Colleen and John for their years of service and contribution to our board," said Chad Coauette, NJPA executive director, in a news release. "We are very excited to welcome Ryan and Greg. They're both very involved in public service and bring a wealth of experiences and knowledge that will help NJPA continue to move forward in its mission and vision."
Thomas, a resident of Burtrum, currently serves as the treasurer of the Upsala Area School Board. He is also the chairperson of the Mid-State Education District Governing Board, an active member of the Upsala community and is employed by Atomic Learning of Little Falls.
Zylka serves as mayor of Little Falls. He was on the board of education for Little Falls Community Schools for almost 10 years and was a city council member for two years before being elected mayor in 2014. Zylka is the chairperson for both the Little Falls Economic Development Authority and Morrison County Community Development. He has served in leadership roles with the Little Falls Chamber of Commerce, United Way, American Cancer Society Relay for Life and other committees. Zylka was employed by Coborn's in Little Falls for 39 years, 25 of which were in a leadership role. He is also a two-time cancer survivor.
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The care, management, and control of NJPA is vested in its board of directors. The board is composed of eight publicly elected members from Region Five full-voting NJPA member entities, six school board representatives and two who serve on boards that represent cities, counties and/or other government agencies.
The NJPA was created in 1978 as one of Minnesota's nine service cooperatives and offers a variety of cooperative programs and services for members on a local, regional, statewide and national scale, including Canada.
