PORT ANGELES – Port Angeles City Council decided Tuesday how they’re going to select a candidate to fill the council seat left vacant with the passing of councilman Jim Moran.

Following the December 11, 5:00 PM deadline for candidates to submit their letters of interest, each council member will review applications and select up to five, if there are that many, that they wish to interview. Only the five candidates with the most selections will be interviewed. If there is a tie for fifth place, six candidates would be interviewed.

The interviews will happen in a special work session between 4:00 and 5:30 pm before the December 17 council meeting and one candidate will be appointed and announced that evening. The work session will be open to the public.

Known candidates so far for the two-year term include outgoing council member Michael Merideth, US Border Patrol agent Matt Rainwater, who is also the former Chair of the Clallam County Republican Party and founder of the homeless vet organization Pennies For Quarters, and Biologist LaTrisha Suggs, who works in the Natural Resources Department for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and is on the Board of Directors of the tribe’s Economic Development Authority.