HOUSTON -- Less than three months into her three-year term as a Houston City Council member, Betty Vehrs resigned this week to spend more time with her family.
"It's due to unforeseen family circumstances," Vehrs, 64, said by phone Thursday. "I have a different priority now. It has to be my family."
Vehrs declined to specify what family circumstances had changed.
Houston Mayor Dale Adams said the City Council would vote to accept Vehrs' resignation at its January meeting.
Notices that the council position is open will be posted for a week to 10 days, he said. Any adult city resident may apply to be on the council.
After the application period closes, Adams said, the council will interview candidates and choose a replacement to fill the seat until October. Voters in October will choose a replacement to serve the two remaining years of Vehrs' council term.
Vehrs is married to a local attorney, Denis Lazarus. She has three daughters.
Vehrs represented Houston and the upper Susitna Valley on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly for three years.
A Meadow Lakes resident, she moved to a rental on King Arthur Drive in Houston this year to establish residency and run for the council. She won an October election against the incumbent, Councilwoman Angela Rosas.
Vehrs said she enjoyed representing Houston. It was a change of pace from her Assembly service, she said.
"Instead of representing a district like I did on the Assembly, when I represented the city of Houston, the growth and enfoldment to me of the realization that we're all working, unified, for the betterment of Houston, it's a wonderful thing," Vehrs said.
Vehrs said she plans to continue living in Houston.
-- Anchorage Daily News
