(Brian Stockman)

A member of city council put in his resignation on Friday, citing a housing shortage as a primary factor.

Councilor Dick Peck has accepted an interim management position with an electric company in Red Lodge, Montana. Though he will start his work with Beartooth Electric Cooperative this Monday, he will hold his council seat through the end of April.

Peck has been involved with city management and governance since he moved to Unalaska in 2004 to serve as the public utilities director. In 2006, he left that position and then ran for council. When reached on Friday afternoon, Peck spoke positively of his experience on city council. He said that he enjoyed being part of the team that built the new power plant and Carl E. Moses Small Boat Harbor, and that he’s proud of advocating for lower property taxes and the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars.

Peck also added that he and his wife, Vicki, were reluctant to leave the community. While he was looking forward to doing work in Montana and then relocating to Kenai to be closer to family, he said that he was ultimately making the move out of necessity. The Pecks lost their eligibility to stay in a city-owned apartment this spring because it was needed for teacher housing. Peck said they struggled to find an affordable replacement.

“It became clear [this would be a problem] when I was notified in February that they’re going to need our apartment, and when you start looking around at where you’re going to move to, there are an extremely limited number of places that a person can move,” said Peck. “There simply wasn’t anything out there and there still isn’t anything out there.”

Last year, city council adopted a road map to create more affordable housing in Unalaska as part of its comprehensive plan. While there is little hard data on housing availability and cost, a study done in 2000 showed that median rental costs in Unalaska were 50 percent higher than the rest of the state.

According to city code, the council must have the vacancy filled within 30 days of Peck formally stepping down. That gives them until May 30 to find a replacement for Peck’s seat. In the past, council has taken applications from interested community members, and then appointed an individual from that pool.

Peck had been up for reelection this year, and any appointee will have to run for office in October to keep the seat.