PORT ANGELES — Tom Oblak was appointed Olympic Medical Center’s seventh commissioner in a special meeting on Wednesday night.
Oblak, a retired hospital facilities manager who now lives in Sequim, replaces the late Arlene Engel, a longtime community heath care advocate and OMC commissioner who died last December at the age of 91.
“Tom, you have a big pair of shoes to fill,” Commissioner Jim Cammack said.
Oblak will have to stand for election in two years if he wants to serve out the remainder of Engel’s six-year term as commissioner for District 1, Position 2.
Four candidates were interviewed in an open session in Linkletter Hall in the basement of the Port Angeles hospital. The other candidates were Don Hall, Karen Goschen and Andrew Shogren.
Commissioners held an 25-minute executive session before making the selection in an open forum.
Oblak directed housekeeping, laundry, safety, security and facilities engineering for hospitals in Florida before becoming Olympic Medical Center’s manager of housekeeping and laundry. He retired as OMC’s disaster preparedness coordinator in 2001.
“I promise to you that I will do my very best,” Oblak said.