WAKE COUNTY, N.C. -- The Wake County School Board has found someone to fill its vacant seat.

Officials appointed former state representative Chris Heagarty on Tuesday to fill the seat left vacant after board member Kathy Hartenstine's death in September.

Heagarty was the only person to apply for the position.

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Heagarty, a Democrat, was appointed to an open seat representing southwestern Wake County in the state House in 2009, but he lost his election bid the following year to former Rep. Tom Murry, R-Wake.

He now serves as executive director of the City of Oaks Foundation, a nonprofit conservation and youth development organization closely aligned with Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department.