A former Republican City Council candidate was appointed to fill a council seat vacancy.

David Dussinger, an engineer with former public safety paramedic skill sets, was appointed by six council members to replace a seat left open by the passing of Bonnie Katz.

Council President Eric Beiter and the others agreed he was best prepared to hit the ground running among seven other candidates who were interviewed in panel style to make it fairest for all candidates.

“The precedent in the City of Williamsport has been to appoint someone of the same political party,” Beiter said, adding, “however, you have all been invited to interview regardless of party because we are going to get everybody’s input in this interview process.”

The interviews took place at the Community Theatre League.

The candidates also included Giovanna Daniele, Jenny Broaddus, Shakeena Lee, Steve Caravaggio, Ariana Moore, Mike Gardner and Grace Weil.

Dussinger will be on the seat for a little more than a year and a half. The term would end in January 2028, Beiter said.

Incumbent Democrat Jon Mackey remarked that he will not run again for council.

Questions included:

• What do you believe are the most important responsibilities of a council member and what does public service mean?

• What are the top three issues that Williamsport is facing and why and what does a thriving Williamsport look like for you?

• How should the city partner with the county, the private sector, and regional organizations and what is one specific idea that you would want to pursue or push in your first six months of being on council?

• How would you approach difficult budget decisions with the limited resources that I think you know Williamsport has and, furthermore, how should the city evaluate whether a project is “worth it?”

The meeting was recorded and is on Youtube.

It lasted more than three hours, including reasons by each council member why Dussinger was the top choice, reasons why Daniele was on par with Dussinger, and appreciating the rest of the candidates who assembled within days for the panel.

Common themes of the night featured the challenging annual budget, the financial responsibility to taxpayers, transparency, answering and listing to constituents concerns, getting along with others even in disagreement, having to sometimes stand alone in decision-making when the minority vote, and promises to gain more insight and bringing their various work experiences to bear in serving on council.

Because of their interest in serving, the seven candidates who were not chosen for the single open seat were encouraged to run for public office, or apply for one of the many appointments on various boards and authorities in the city.

“Next year is an election year,” Beiter stressed. “If you are not selected tonight, please keep that in the back of your mind,” he said. “We are going to have four seats on this council that are going to be up for re-election, some may decide to run again, some may not decide to run again,” he said.