The Black Diamond City Council filled the empty seat in the front of the room.

At the council’s March 15 meeting the members appointed Carol Benson to fill Position No. 4 vacated by William Saas.

Benson will be sworn in prior to the March 26 special council meeting at 4 p.m. and the ceremonial swearing in will be April 5.

Five filed applications for the seat. One applicant, Bill Roth, withdrew his application. The council interviewed the other four March 8.

Melanie Gauthier was interviewed by phone because she was on a previously scheduled vacation.

The other two interviewed, along with Benson, were Bob Rothchilds and Greg Thesenvitz, who is currently a vice chair of the Planning Commission.

Councilman Ron Taylor said during the meeting on March 15, “We have four extremely qualified candidates in front of us. This has been a tough decision. We really can’t lose because we have four great people.”

Taylor said the council considered the applicants carefully as well as “input from the community.”

Saas, who won his seat in November 2009, served during a period of time the council faced some controversial and difficult decisions, including the weeks of hearings and eventual approval of the two YarrowBay master planned development ordinances in 2010.

Saas recused himself from the development agreement hearings in September 2011. He resigned Jan. 21 citing the demands of his work schedule as the principal reason for his decision to leave the council.