John Blanton of Milwaukie will fill the vacancy on the Clackamas Fire District No. 1 Board.

Blanton is already a board member on the Clackamas Emergency Services Foundation, which has worked with the fire district’s Operation Santa to deliver cheer to low-income children.

The board appointed Blanton by a 3-1 vote last week among seven qualified candidates. Toby Forsberg resigned from the board this summer after moving to Gladstone, which is covered by a volunteer fire department, unlike the nearly 200 square miles of the professional fire district in North Clackamas.

Blanton, 64, retired from the state of Oregon’s department of community colleges and workforce development in May 2011. Having served as president of the North Clackamas County Chamber of Commerce, he’s also worked as a rapid-response coordinator for workforce services at Clackamas Community College, where he worked with employees laid off from the former Blue Heron Paper Co.

“I’ve had the good fortune to be part of this North Clackamas community for more than 20 years,” Blanton said. The district has an excellent record, and I’m looking forward to helping with that.”

He is concerned about fire-district revenue decreasing through declining property values and urban-renewal areas.

“But the demand doesn’t diminish, so we need to continue to find creative ways to deal with that,” said Blanton, who plans to run for election to the position in May 2013.