When the Alpena County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday to choose between Marty Thompson and Leanne Bloom for an appointment to a vacant board seat, reporter Steve Schulwitz described a packed house in the Howard Male Conference Room at the county building.

Commissioners also said they’d received lots of correspondence from people in the county, supporting one candidate or the other.

We are glad to see such public interest in local government.

The board ultimately named Thompson to replace Kevin Burr, who stepped down from his seat representing the county’s District No. 7 to pursue a career opportunity.

It was the second time this year that the board had to appoint a replacement commissioner. Earlier this year, the board named Dave Karschnick to replace District No. 3 commissioner Nick Modrzynski, who, like Burr, stepped down to focus on his career and family.

It is concerning to see commissioners leave the board, especially after such a short time. Burr only joined the board in January after defeating longtime commissioner Cam Habermehl in the 2018 elections. And Modrzynski only won his first election last year, having been appointed in spring 2017 to replace another resigned commissioner, Camille Nerkowski, who stepped down for health issues.

But our concerns were allayed by the apparent strong participation in the future of the Alpena County board, which oversees more than $9 million of taxpayer money and runs some of the community’s most cherished programs.

A government of the people and by the people works best when the people show up.

Apparently, that happened on Tuesday, and we’re glad to see it.

We hope future board meetings at which normal business is conducted see similar participation, and we hope the interest on Tuesday signals a strong turnout when the District No. 7 seat and other seats on the board are up for election in 2020.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)