January 10, 2023 3:40 a.m.

Commissioners from Douglas, Coos and Curry counties will meet Wednesday morning to select the person who will complete the recently vacated term in Oregon Senate District One.

Dallas Heard announced his resignation effective January 1, so the candidate selected will serve through the end of 2024.

On Saturday, Republican precinct committee persons from the 3 counties that have areas that makeup the geographic boundary of the district met in Coquille to choose people for the commissioners to select from. The names forwarded include State Representative David Brock Smith of Curry County, and Tim Allen, Richard Vander Velden, Todd Vaughn and Thomas Dole, all who are residents of Douglas County.

The meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m. in room 216 of the Douglas County Courthouse. Commissioners from Coos and Curry counties will likely take part in the meeting via a Zoom link.

Commissioner Tim Freeman will make opening remarks, followed by questions from commissioners about the process, and then each candidate will be able to speak and take questions from any of the commissioners. After some time to deliberate, a vote will be taken and the new state senator will be named.

The meeting is open to the public. It can also be viewed on the live stream which is linked: https://video.ibm.com/channel/douglascountyoregon

For additional information, call the Douglas County Board of Commissioners at 440-4201.