“Four candidates have emerged in the search to fill the vacant seat on the Bainbridge Island Park and Recreation District’s board of directors.The four seated commissioners – Ken DeWitt, Chris Llewellyn, Daryle Schei and Dave Shorett – may convene a special public session to interview candidates Eric Hoyte, Dane Spencer, Kjell Stoknes and Frank Stowell – before the board’s next scheduled meeting on Dec. 14.Parks director Dave Lewis said he hopes the board will be able to appoint the replacement for Bob Silver, who resigned in October, at the Dec. 14 meeting.Whoever wins the appointment will, by state and county law, fill the seat for a term expiring in November 2001. At that point, he will have to run for re-election – along with every other commissioner save Shorett.It’s a very unusual and interesting situation, Lewis said. But we have some very well-qualified candidates, as we did the last time we had a vacancy, and I’m confident we’ll continue to have well-qualified candidates.The four:* Eric W. Hoyte: A semi-retired landscape architect, Hoyte served for several years on the city’s Road Ends Committee and currently is a member of the Open Space Committee. A six-year island resident, Hoyte worked for the University of Washington for 27 years. During his tenure, he designed the school’s Arboretum Waterfront Trail and the south end of the Japanese Teagarden.I am pretty familiar with a lot of the nooks and crannies, views and recreation spaces of our special environment, Hoyte said.* Dane Spencer: Also a landscape architect, Spencer unsuccessfully ran against Silver last fall and bid for the commissioner seat vacated by Joanne Croghan last February. He currently serves on the park district’s Gazzam Lake Stewardship Committee and the Open Space Committee.He has designed pathways in the Grand Forest and developed a technical report on the feasibility of acquiring the Lovgreen Road gravel pit site for public use.I offer my service to the board and the park district in any helpful way; my goal is to serve the community, Spencer said.* Kjell Stoknes: The area native spent a 30-year career in municipal planning with the cities of Kirkland and Tukwila and in commercial real estate appraisal.I am very familiar with the workings of government and the private sector, Stoknes said.I am currently fortunate enough not to have to be gainfully employed, which gives me the opportunity to put more time and energy into volunteer efforts that benefit the community.* Frank Stowell: Retired from a 26-year career with an aptitude testing and research organization, Stowell has made a name for himself in leadership work with the Bainbridge Land Trust, the South Bainbridge Community Association, Gazzam Lake acquisition and Hyla Middle School. Most recently, he was the campaign coordinator in the successful effort to acquire the head of Blakely Harbor as a public park.I have greatly enjoyed working with the park staff on the Blakely Harbor Park project, and would look forward to getting more involved with the parks department at a board level and contributing in any way I can, Stowell said. “