PONTIAC - Mike Stalter said that it was tough sitting in his father's chair at Pontiac City Council meetings.

"In a lot of ways I really enjoyed the City Council, but in a lot of ways it was hard," he said. "It's hard sitting in my dad's seat hearing the issues that he was passionate about."

Stalter was appointed to serve as Ward 5 alderman after his father, Don Stalter, died of a heart attack in August 2007. He chose not to run for election in his own right to the seat.

Stalter, who works as a special education teacher at Normal Community High School, plans to move to Bloomington this summer.

He said he remembers how people came up to him during his father's visitation to express support for him taking the seat. With this support, he was appointed by Pontiac Mayor Scott McCoy to fill the term.

"He had a lot of influence on me," Stalter said of his father. "Somewhere in the first few years after graduating college, he became my best friend. He had a tremendous impact on my life and insisted on going to college."

It only got tougher as his wife, Mary, 43, lost her battle with breast cancer and died in January 2008. She was diagnosed in 1990 and had beaten it, but the cancer later came back and spread to her lungs, liver and chest wall.

"We would always talk about what happened at City Council when I came home," he said. "Then she was gone, and this was something we did together. It made being on the council less fun."

Stalter said he plans to remarry this summer as well.

Those who worked with Stalter said he was a welcome presence on the council and would have made his father proud.

"I think Mike has done a wonderful job in stepping in after his dad's passing, and he continued to fight for a lot of the same principles as his father," McCoy said. "I know that it was a rough year for him, but even with all that has happened he's done a fantastic job."

Stalter said he appreciated his time on the board and the opportunity to make a difference for the community.

"Everybody at some point in their life really wants to help people," said Salter, who retired from the Pontiac Correctional Center in 2004 and has served on the Pontiac grade school board. "I've been fortunate to have helped a few people in my life, and it really is a good feeling."

No one filed a candidacy petition for the Ward 5 position. If no write-in candidate emerges for the April 7 election, the mayor will appoint someone.