Less than two months after George Dill’s death left a void on the Puyallup City Council, his District 1 replacement has been chosen.

The council voted 4-2 at its Jan. 13 special meeting to appoint Nicole Martineau, a 33-year-old paraeducator with the Puyallup School District. Councilmember Rick Hansen nominated Martineau and was joined by John Knutsen, Kent Boyle and Don Malloy in supporting her. Mayor Kathy Turner and Deputy Mayor Tami Brouillet voted against Martineau.

Martineau is a longtime Puyallup resident and applied for the council vacancy along with her father, William Hilton. She will serve the first two years of Dill’s term and her seat will be one of five in Puyallup up for grabs in the November 2011 election.

The council selected Martineau, Val Offenbecher and Tony Aho as finalists among the eight applicants, who all had a chance to speak and answer questions on Wednesday night. Offenbecher was a former council member from 2003 to 2006, while Aho finished second to Dill in November’s general election.

Aho was also nominated for the seat, receiving support from Turner, Brouillet and Malloy. But Knutsen, Hansen and Boyle defeated that motion, saying Aho represented too much of a shift from Dill’s values.

More on the council’s selection process and information about Martineau will be available in The Herald’s Jan. 20 issue.