PORT ANGELES — Downtown merchant Edna Petersen was appointed by the City Council on Tuesday to fill a vacancy on the seven-member council.
The appointment followed a 90-minute executive session behind closed doors.
Petersen was sworn in by City Clerk Becky Upton immediately following her unanimous selection.
She joined the rest of the council as it recessed back into executive session to discuss potential litigation.
“That easy?” a surprised Petersen said after being told she was being quickly sworn in.
“Yes I’m surprised. I’m still shaking,” she said.
When she collected herself, Petersen said: “We are on the verge of doing some really great things here in Port Angeles and I want to be a part of it.”
Petersen, who owns the gift store Necessities and Temptations at the corner of Laurel Street and Railroad Avenue, helped lead the legal challenge in 2005 to have the Saturday Port Angeles Farmers Market removed from a one-block section of Laurel Street.
She will serve the remainder of Councilwoman Lauren Erickson’s term, which expires Dec. 31, 2007, and will have to run in the November 2007 election to retain the seat.
Erickson announced May 16 that she was resigning effective May 31 to undergo eight weeks of radiation treatment for breast cancer she characterized as “very treatable.”
Seven people responded to Mayor Karen Rogers’ subsequent request for “letters of interest.”
The other six applicants were Scott Collins, Patrick Downie, Helen Elwood, Cherie Kidd, Peter Ripley and Mike Sims.
