After a three-week opening for residents to apply for a vacant seat on the borough assembly, two people stepped forward and the assembly was scheduled to make its decision Tuesday evening, June 9.

Port Commissioner John Yeager and Tony Haubrich submitted letters of interest to the borough clerk in advance of the June 4 deadline for consideration.

Municipal code requires a majority vote of the remaining five assembly members and the mayor to appoint someone to fill an unexpired term. Assembly Member Michael Ottesen resigned in May, with five months left in his term until the October municipal election.

Voters will decide in October who should fill the seat for a full three-year term, with the candidate filing period opening Aug. 3 and closing Aug. 31.

Yeager, now in his 16th year on the port commission, said he applied to fill the five-month vacant seat for a couple of reasons.

“I just feel it’s a good opportunity to step in and understand” the workings of the assembly.

The other reason, he said, is to show his support for the borough’s work to expand the town’s economy, citing efforts to promote development of a privately owned and operated shipyard and a new barge landing and freight yard at the borough-owned 6-Mile Mill property.

Yeager, who is a commercial fisherman, said he had not decided whether he would run for a full term on the assembly in October if he is appointed to fill the short-term vacancy.

Haubrich said he wants to serve on the assembly to look for what the borough can do to help lower the cost of living in Wrangell.

He said he has attended several assembly meetings and listened as members have approved fee increases. “I would like to be a voice for people living on fixed incomes or low-income families.”

Haubrich turns out wood bowls on his lathe and tried to organize an outdoor market at the Nolan Center on a couple of cruise ship days this summer.

If he does not win appointment to the five-month term, he said he may run for a full term in the next election.