Bremerton city councilor Tony Hillman announced at a public meeting Wednesday that he will be vacating his seat next month.

Hillman, an accoutant, recently took a job with the city of Port Townsend. His last city council meeting will be January 2.

“It’s not something that I thought about in a day,” he said. “It took me awhile. When I signed up for this, I had full intentions of being here for two years, and I had full intentions of running when the election came up.”

Hillman was appointed to represent West Bremerton’s District 4 in January, after Greg Wheeler was elected mayor.

On Thursday, the city of Bremerton issued a press release calling for applications to replace Hillman. The council will select a qualified applicant, the statement read, who will serve on the council until the 2019 general election.

The last time the District 4 seat became available, Hillman and Jaime Forsyth, of the Kitsap Regional Library Foundation, were finalists for the job.

“I feel proud of what I brought to the table,” Hillman said. “I think we accomplished a lot this year.”

Gabe Stutman is a reporter with the Kitsap News Group. You can follow him on Twitter @kitsapgabe.