CARY - Julie Robison, a 10-year veteran of the Cary Town Council, will resign her seat at the end of June, with about 18 months of her term remaining.

Robison and her family are moving to West Virginia. Her husband, Daniel Robison, an associate dean and professor at N.C. State University, will lead the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design at West Virginia University beginning May 31.

"It's completely bittersweet. There's no other word for it," said Robison, who has won three town elections. "I never, ever, once imagined I would be in a situation to leave before my term was over."

Robison will resign after the council votes on the town's next budget early this summer. She anticipates the council will appoint a successor.

With the departure of Robison, a registered Democrat, the nonpartisan board will consist of three registered Republicans and three registered Democrats. Robison does not anticipate a politically divisive selection process. "Partisanship has no place on the local level," she said.

The council also faced a resignation last year, when former council member Erv Portman left for an appointment to the Wake County Board of Commissioners. The council did not replace Portman, who had only six months remaining on his term.

The council took about six months in 2007 to make its most recent appointment.

Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said the council likely will search for a replacement, but said there is a chance the board will split on the decision.

"If it does deadlock, then maybe you will leave it open," he said.

By Wednesday, he already had heard from several people interested in the position, he said. He said he was not sure how much debate and contention the selection process would inspire among council members.

"If we get people who have run for office before, then it will become political," he said.

As Robison's move approaches, the councilwoman is contemplating a departure from the town where her family has lived for 15 years. "We don't always anticipate these things, but opportunities emerge, and I guess this one called us," she said.