Natalie Johnson, executive director of the Manitou Art Center and a Manitou Springs School District board member, is the newest member of the Manitou Springs City Council.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to appoint Johnson, an 18-year Manitou Springs resident, to fill a vacancy left by Susan Wolbrueck, who resigned last month. Johnson was sworn in to represent the city’s first ward — Manitou Springs’ southern portion — during a special meeting Tuesday night. Her term will expire on Jan. 4.

Johnson was the sole applicant for the vacant seat, meeting documents show.

She is the former owner of Black Cat Books in downtown Manitou Springs and has also directed several nonprofits in the city, including the Manitou

Springs Creative District from 2014 to 2020. A longtime Manitou Springs School District volunteer, Johnson joined the school board in 2016. She has been the executive director of the Manitou Art Center since 2012 and a member of the city’s Urban Renewal Authority board since 2020.

This combination of experiences, she said, allows her to

“identify with and respond to the concerns” of the city’s residents and business owners.

“Having served on everything from the Chamber to the Parking Board to the (Urban Renewal Authority), I have been tracking our community engagement efforts and actively participating in our city for years,” she wrote in her application. “This is where I live, work, and play.”

Maintaining the city’s small town feel while managing “big city” issues, she said, requires “balance, compromise and creativity.”

“With that in mind, I believe that everyone does better when everyone does better,” she wrote. “I am pro-resident-business-environment-art-culture-wellness-fitness-mobility-education — and opportunity. … An investment in Manitou Springs now is an investment in my future. I am committed.”