VIENNA — Township trustees swore in a third trustee at a special meeting Tuesday to take the place of the former trustee who resigned.

Former trustee Robert Root resigned April 17 because of stress amid the township’s financial crisis. After a series of public interviews, trustees Phil Pegg and Richard Dascenzo approved a motion to select Mike Haddle, one of five candidates for the position.

Other candidates included Kim Ellis, Doug Gollan, Tarin Brown and Joe Hray, who didn’t show up to the meeting.

Mike Haddle is the son of Beth Haddle, a member of the Mathews Board of Education. Haddle said he previously held a position on the zoning board, and served in the Marine Corps for 13 years.

“I’ve always been interested in government and legislation and making things work,” he said. “You always hear about people saying the government’s messed up. I figured now would be a good time to step up and put the money where the mouth is.”

Pegg said he chose Haddle because of his military background.

“The military background, it’s something we have been missing,” he said.

Dascenzo said he chose Haddle because he is knowledgeable.

“All our candidates were great, but I need someone that loves to come out (in the community),” he said. “I need someone who will work together and worry about fixing what’s going on.”

Haddle said he was speechless about being selected as a third trustee.

“I want to engage more with the community,” he said. “We got social media and other platforms. This isn’t 1924. Everybody has the ability to learn real time information.”

He said in the future, he hopes to see the township trustees have their own social media platforms “down the road.”

“It needs to be (run by) a third-party entity if we do that,” Haddle said.

He said now that he’s a trustee, he plans to deal with the stress of the financial situation by eating beef jerky and popsicles.

Pegg said he hopes that Haddle will bring common sense to the community.

“I’ve worked with him on a few other things,” Pegg said. “I know his family’s very invested in the community but Mike and his wife both give a great deal to the community.”

He said Mike Haddle’s wife, Holly Haddle, runs a Girl Scout group at Mathews High School. Pegg said he is going to help Holly Haddle and the scouts plant trees at the Bicentennial Gazebo.

“We’ve lost a lot of trees down there,” Pegg said. “We still have our concert series at the gazebo and people are becoming cooked by the sun on those sunny days we have. We get a lot of seniors that come to those and they just can’t sit out in the sun for two or three hours.”