Candidate filing week suddenly became interesting on Friday for those who were watching the Oak Harbor City Council contests.

Positions in local government on the island had drawn a diversity of expected and new candidates, while a few remained uncontested.

Four seats on Oak Harbor City Council will appear on the ballot in the general election. Councilmember Jim Woessner, who earlier said he wasn’t seeking reelection, unexpectedly filed for his seat early Friday when it appeared that seats were going to run unchallenged. He said he decided to bow out, however, after more candidates emerged. Likewise, Donna Coats filed for the position and then withdrew.

As a result, the candidates for Position 6 are Andy Plumlee and Sandi Peterson.

James Marrow, who was appointed to Position 5, will face Brit Kraner.

Neither Councilmember Bryan Stucky nor Councilmember Barbara Armes will have challengers.

It’s an especially important election for the WhidbeyHealth hospital system as three of the five seats on the board will be on the ballot in November. Two of the current board members, Ron Wallin and Gregory Richardson, announced earlier that they aren’t seeking reelection. A third board member, Kate Rose, passed away recently.

James Canby of Clinton and Christina LeClaire of Oak Harbor filed for Position 3. Dr. Mark Borden of Coupeville and Juliann Althoff of Oak Harbor are vying for Position 4.

Originally, six candidates filed for Position 5 on the hospital board, but two of them withdrew. The current candidates are Greenbank resident Dennis Rochier; Oak Harbor resident Theodore Smith; Oak Harbor resident Kirk Gasper; and Langley resident Morgan Cooper, who previously served on the board.

In Coupeville, Kristo Allred and Brandon Roos filed for Position 5 while Evan Henrich filed for Position 4 on the town council.