The borough assembly on Tuesday evening appointed Bob Dalrymple to fill the unexpired term of member Julie Decker, who resigned Jan. 11. Dalrymple and Jim DeBord both expressed interest in filling the seat to the end of the term in October.
DeBord has previous experience with the assembly. He served as a member from October 2018 to 2019, choosing not to seek reelection that year. Dalrymple also has experience on the assembly. He was appointed to sit on the assembly after Assembly Member Mya DeLong resigned in August 2020. He officially ran for office in the October 2020 election, but was unsuccessful.
The assembly on Tuesday presented Decker with a certificate of service for her eight years on the assembly, 2013 to 2021.
"I am interested in serving on the currently vacant seat on the Wrangell Borough Assembly and would like to be considered for that seat," Dalrymple's letter of interest read. "I would like to be more involved in public service and I think my abilities and experience would complement the current assembly."
Each assembly member was asked Tuesday to offer their nomination between DeBord and Dalrymple. Mayor Steve Prysunka explained this was done for the sake of fairness and transparency.
While meeting on Zoom, he said, people's responses to calling for motions could be affected by their internet speeds. Someone could get the jump on making a nomination before another assembly member, just because they had faster internet than the other person.
To counteract that risk, each assembly member offered their nominations individually. All assembly members aside from Ryan Howe nominated Dalrymple. Howe nominated DeBord. When the vote was called, however, Dalrymple won unanimous support.
"I was kind of torn between the two, so this was not an easy decision on my part," Assembly Member Terry Courson said.
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