Former Member Appointed To Fill Vacant Tucson City Council Seat

TUCSON, AZ — Former Council member Karin Uhlich has been appointed to serve Ward 3 on the Tucson City Council in the wake of Paul Durham's resignation.

Uhlich will fill the vacant seat after the council unanimously voted in her favor Monday. She previously served on the council from 2005 to 2017 when she stepped down. She will not be able to seek re-election after serving out the remainder of Durham's term.

In a tweet following the vote, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero congratulated Uhlich on her appointment and thanked Durham for his service.

"Karin is a proven leader who understands the issues facing Ward 3 neighborhoods and has previously been elected by Ward 3 residents," she wrote. "Thank you again to Council Member Durham for your service to the city of Tucson and welcome back to the Council, Council Member Uhlich!"

Others had applied for the job, as reported by the Arizona Daily Star, including Michael Crawford, a local trial attorney, as well as Bonnie Poulos, a retired immunobiologist and prominent community activist.

Durham announced his resignation in early February to "attend to personal matters." Durham previously took a step back from his duties in September 2020 while he recovered from an injury and his husband battled terminal cancer.

Durham was a vocal presence on the council and was instrumental in passing Tucson's climate emergency plan. The plan, which was a joint effort with Romero, pledges that all city departments will be carbon neutral by 2030.

On Monday, Uhlich said that helping the community recover from the coronavirus pandemic would be top-of-mind moving forward.

“Tucson prides itself on that local, small business driver that is our economy and I don’t know how best to make sure that we help those businesses re-emerge and survive this next period, but it’s critical," she said.