The Coupeville Town Council will be looking to fill a vacancy after a council member resigned Tuesday night.
Tom Tack, who is in the middle of his first term, announced in an email to city officials that he is resigning from the Coupeville Town Council effective Aug. 15.
“It was a great education and opportunity to serve the residents of Coupeville,” Tack said Wednesday.
He was sworn in for his first term in January 2010 after out-polling Sue Cunningham in 2009 for the seat.
Tack resigned his position because he accepted a job with Northrup Grumman Corporation in New York, where he is going to work in its electronic warfare program. He presently works for Electronic Warfare Associates at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
A former Navy pilot, Tack said the sudden resignation was necessary because he needed time to move before the start of the school year. He wouldn’t have time to tend to council business while organizing a quick family move across the country.
“As you can imagine, the decision to leave Coupeville was not an easy one and we debated the pros and cons for some time. Ultimately we decided this opportunity is in our family’s best long term interest,” Tack said in his resignation letter submitted to the town of Coupeville.
Having served on the council for 18 months, he said he is proud of the work the council and Island County are doing in completing the unified design guidelines for Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. Once the document is finalized, it will provide an improved design review process over the one currently in place. He mentioned he had worked on the unified guidelines prior to his election to the council when he served on the county’s historical review committee.
“He’s been a great council member. He made a real positive contribution,” Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard said. She said he helped improve the town’s connections with the Navy. Tack’s Navy background came in handy in the summer of 2010 when residents complained about noisy Navy aircraft flying over town during training at Outlying Field.
Conard said Tack’s knowledge of the Navy provided connections necessary to resolve residents’ concerns.
Despite this being an election year, the Coupeville Town Council will have to appoint a replacement to Tack’s position. Conard said she will have a plan to fill the vacancy when the council meets Aug. 23. The person selected will fill a seat up for election in 2013. She hopes to have a replacement on the job by early October at the latest.
Tack, a former EA-6B Prowler pilot, retired from the Navy in 2008. Since his retirement, he has become a highly visible leader on Whidbey Island. In addition to the Coupeville Town Council, he is president of the Oak Harbor Navy League and vice president of the Central Whidbey Chamber of Commerce.
He said the most difficult thing about the move is having to pull his four children out of the Aquajet swim program at the John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool in Oak Harbor. He said there isn’t a finer youth program around.
