MOUNT VERNON – Amber Keener was chosen by the Knox County Republican Party to fill the Mount Vernon City Council seat vacated by Tanner Salyers, who resigned from the Council to fill the vacant Knox County recorder’s post.

The Knox County GOP Central Committee members who live in Mount Vernon met on Thursday, June 17, to fill the vacant council seat, party chairman Thom Collier told the Mount Vernon News.

Keener had filed for election to an at-large council seat on the ballot. Collier said her selection made sense.

Keener said her campaign for an at-large City Council seat has been active since the spring.

“I am excited about the opportunity to begin working with the Mount Vernon City Council sooner rather than later,” she told the News. “There are so many people in the community who have supported me, and I could not have done this without them. It is after all these community members who I will do the work for.”

Keener also thanked her children and her husband, Steven Fleckenstein, who continue to encourage her.

Collier said the group also voted on a person to replace Salyers on the municipal election ballot on Nov. 2. But the group needed clarification on a point and will withhold their selection until that question is answered.

The committee received two applications for the position on the ballot, and Collier said both were considered.

After Salyers withdrew his candidacy, three candidates remain on the ballot for the three at-large seats in the November election, including Republicans Keener and Janis E. Seavolt along with Democrat Julia M. Warga. The Knox GOP’s choice will fill the slot on the ballot vacated by Salyers.

Keener and her husband have been married for 15 years and reside on the east side of town where they raise their five children, ages 7 through 14.