PORT ANGELES — A second Port Angeles resident has applied to temporarily fill the City Council seat left vacant by former City Council member Max Mania.
Dan Gase, a well-known real estate agent and community volunteer, is guaranteed a permanent spot on the council this January because he is the only person to file for the seat currently held by Brooke Nelson. She is not seeking re-election.
In a Tuesday interview, Gase said he decided to apply to the currently vacant position, for which council members will vote to appoint an applicant, to better familiarize himself with the way the council works and the issues it will address.
“I could be starting [in January] from scratch,” Gase said.
“This way, it will give me some good hands-on experience and will make me more prepared.”
Gase joins Peter Ripley, an online newsletter publisher and advocate for those with disabilities, in applying to fill City Council Position 2, left vacant when Mania announced his resignation, effectively immediately, Aug. 3.
City Clerk Janessa Hurd said Gase and Ripley were the only applicants to the position as of 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Applications are due by 5 p.m. Aug. 21.
Applications can be downloaded from the city’s website at http://tinyurl.com/mgo9xyx, completed and emailed with a letter of interest to Hurd at cityclerk@cityofpa.us.
Applications also can be mailed to the city clerk at 321 E. Fifth St., P.O. Box 1150, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
Applicants likely will be interviewed by the full City Council in open session before the council’s regular meeting Sept. 3, City Manager Dan McKeen said last week.
Ripley is running against Lee Whetham, a plumber, for council Position 2 in the Nov. 6 general election.
Election certification
Whomever the City Council appoints to fill the position temporarily will serve until the Nov. 6 general election results have been certified Nov. 26.
Gase, an agent with Coldwell Banker Uptown Realty in Port Angeles, also said he is seeking to temporarily fill the vacant City Council spot from September to November because council members will be delving into the 2014 city budget at that time.
“I’m looking forward to see how all that’s transpired this year and see what the projections are for 2014,” Gase said.
Gase, now serving on the Port Angeles Civil Service Commission and a former Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce president and former candidate for the state Legislature, has served as a board member for Volunteers in Medicine of the Olympics, Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County and the Olympic Medical Center Foundation.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
