PENDLETON — The Pendleton City Council’s two councilors-elect are set to get a head start on their tenures.

Mayor John Turner announced at an Aug. 18 meeting that councilors Becky Marks and Chuck Wood were resigning and would be replaced by their successors who were elected in May. While Wood had long telegraphed his desire to leave the council before the end of his term in December, Marks hadn’t made a similar public announcement.

A retiree, Marks was elected to an open Ward 1 seat in 2008 and won contested elections for additional terms in 2012 and 2016 before deciding against a fourth term in 2020.

Turner said Marks was departing the council early for “family reasons,” and praised her for her work on the Pendleton Airport Committee.

Addressing the rest of the council and the audience, Marks said her position as city councilor was the most “enjoyable, frustrating, happy, angry job” she’s ever done.

Retired U.S. Forest Service employee Kevin Martin was elected unopposed in May to replace Marks on the council. Turner said he’ll appoint Martin to Marks’ vacant seat at the council’s next meeting in September.

Wood was appointed to a vacant Ward 2 seat in February after Councilor Scott Fairley’s sudden death. Having already served a term on the council before retiring, Wood told the council he wouldn’t run for a full term and would likely step down once his successor was elected.

With public relations specialist Sally Brandsen winning the race for a full term, she will be seated with Martin at the next council meeting.

With Marks and Wood’s departures, the council has now fully turned over since 2014. Taking office in 2015, Councilor McKennon McDonald is now the longest serving member on the council.