L’ANSE — The Baraga County board appointed Bradley Dakota to fill the District 2 vacancy on the board at its meeting Tuesday.

Dakota replaces Will Wiggins, who resigned last month after learning his status as a federal employee prevented him from holding a partisan position. Dakota was a longtime chief judge for the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Court before being defeated in 2018.

“This vacancy will leave District 2 with no representation which is unfortunate for all persons residing in the district,” he said in a letter to Board Chairman William Rolof declaring his interest. “After having considered this I was taken back to an election nearly 30 years ago where I too ran for district 2 Commissioner and only narrowly lost to the same former Commissioner that Will Wiggins recently defeated. This series of events has caused me to reconsider my former aspiration to hold a Commissioner position on the county board … I believe my former training and experience as a judge will suit me well and I will do my best to represent the district that I have lived in for nearly all of my adult life.”

Also applying for the position were: Michael Koskinen, a former 40-year board member who Wiggins defeated in November; Carole LaPointe, Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) programs and services team lead for the KBIC; Baraga resident Gerald Lindemann; and Christy Miron, principal of Sacred Heart School in L’Anse and a member of the Baraga Area Schools Board.

Dakota’s term will expire Dec. 31, 2022.