A little more than a month after Hoquiam City Council declared a vacancy for one of the city’s Ward Four seats, the city council voted for someone to fill out its roster.

Meet Rob Gillis, a nine-year Air Force veteran and 16-year-long Hoquiam resident. He won his seat in a run-off against Matt Lyons. The first vote featured five candidates.

Gillis will join Greg Larsen, who also serves Ward Four. Gillis wanted to join the council for a simple reason.

“Please consider me for serving as the city council member for Ward Four, because I believe my heart to serve and my unique set of skills from experience will help serve the citizens of Hoquiam,” Gillis’ letter of intent stated.

After Monday night’s council meeting, Gillis talked about what convinced him to put his name out there.

“The main thing is just communication,” Gillis said. “It’s huge that people don’t feel like they’re being heard, whether it’s nationally or state. I’m just going to do what I can locally and start that, start being that voice. There’s so much division right now in this nation. But it starts in the community and our neighborhoods, where we bring people together and then we expand out from that.”

The ward’s eastern boundary is the bend in Hoquiam River that lies just west of Broadway Avenue, according to the city of Hoquiam website. The western boundary is Buchanan Street, between Chenault Avenue and Emerson Avenue. The northern boundary is Grand Avenue, just south of Elton Bennett Park. The southern boundary is state Route 109, also known as Emerson Avenue. That southern boundary deviates north and includes a four-block section of Karr Avenue, between Grant and Jefferson streets.

Some input from a city council voter

Elizabeth Reid, Hoquiam city councilor, seems to already be a fan of Gillis. She spoke about why that is.

“He presented really well when he spoke to the council,” Reid said. “His military background led me to believe that he’d be a good team player and would think through the process of fulfilling his duties.”

Reid said Gillis’ work as a social worker says to her “he’s community-minded.”

Gillis worked as a social worker at the Aberdeen Community Services Office, where he “had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of citizens requiring urgent financial and medical needs,” Gillis’ letter of intent states.

“As a social worker, I also had to coordinate services with other state, local and community agencies to ensure all available resources were offered to help citizens return to gainful employment as quickly as possible,” Gillis’ letter states. “This coordination of services ensured limited resources were utilized efficiently to save taxpayers’ dollars.”

Gillis explained what made him the right choice for the position.

“I believe I have a unique set of skills and experience that would allow me to serve the citizens within my ward,” his letter states. “I have spent a majority of my life serving others through volunteer work or as a paid public servant. I truly care about the well-being of others and the city of Hoquiam.”

Competitive field

Gillis was glad to compete for the position against Lyons, Catherine Novak, Maxine Johnson and Autumn Melvard.

Hoquiam Mayor Ben Winkelman sounded positive about the fact five people wanted to serve. He also offered another idea for the other candidates in case they want to serve the city in a different capacity.

“I don’t recall the last time we had five people interested in a position,” Winkelman said. “That was nice to see, the very diverse applicants. I’m realizing that our planning commission hasn’t met for quite some time and I believe we need some additional people to serve on the planning commission. That’s an excellent place for some of you to share some of the skills that you have.”

Gillis said it was “great” to have such a strong field of candidates.

“That means people are interested in the community,” Gillis said. “It’s exciting to me. My hope is to go in there and serve the community in the best way I can and be the ears and a voice (for) the community and for what’s going on with the council.”

Gillis’ focus now is being a voice, listening and trying to bring people together.

“People want basic things,” Gillis said. “They want to be able to raise their family, make a living and have a safe community, and to just be able to live their lives.”

Gracious runner-up

Maxine Johnson wasn’t second in the running, but the city council candidate voiced support for the city and for Gillis during the meeting’s second public comment period.

“I just want to thank you all for considering all of us,” Johnson said. “I want to thank everyone who ran for running. I love this community. I think we all love this community. And I wish the best of luck to Mr. Gillis. Everyone, have a great day.”

While Gillis won’t swear-in to the city council until the start of the next council meeting on Oct. 14, he sounded ready to go less than an hour after winning his seat.

“I just want to work together with everybody and continue building bridges. That’s pretty much what I’ve done in my career” Gillis said. “Just helping people and, like I said, just believing in people.”

Gillis repeated his goal to his ward.

“I’m here to listen and I’m gonna come back with information,” Gillis said. “The main thing is communicating and just, I want to listen and take their concerns or ideas back to the council. And then at least have a conversation about it.”

Gillis said he hopes people keep running for office and that the next ballot is packed.

“Fresh ideas are what we need,” Gillis said. “And people who are going to listen, that’s what I’m here for is to listen.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.