POULSBO — Linda Berry-Maraist joined the Poulsbo City Council in 2008. She left Jan. 21 to a standing applause from a full council chambers.

“One of my goals for tonight was to get through this without getting teary,” Berry-Maraist said from the dais. “I appreciate all the kind words. It has been a pleasure to serve, and maybe a few times it was boring, but it’s always been interesting. Thank you all.”

Berry-Maraist said she is proud of the work that has been done on the council, including projects that resulted in trails, cleaner water in Liberty Bay, and cleaner stormwater.

She was strong voice of support for Poulsbo’s natural ambiance, parks and trails while on the council.

Berry-Maraist announced in late 2014 she was vacating her council seat, citing that she had become “stretched too thin” with her work at the city, and that she needed to re-focus on her career and family. Her term was to last through 2015. Four Poulsbo residents have applied for appointment and the council will interview them on Jan. 28.

The council had little business to tend to at its Jan. 21 council meeting, yet the chamber was filled with the parting councilwoman’s supporters.

“If you measure someone’s citizenship by their amount of heart, Linda has to rank among the finest citizens of our city,” said Poulsbo Port Commissioner Jim Rutledge, who attended the meeting to wish Berry-Maraist well. “I think we are all for the worse for her leaving, but I understand why.”

Doug Maraist, Berry-Maraist’s husband, approached the dais with a bouquet of roses. “I want to thank Linda for all the hard work she’s done to preserve this beautiful place,” he said. He wasn’t the only one with flowers for the parting councilwoman.

“I would like to thank Linda Berry-Maraist for her unbelievable efforts for the (North Kitsap) Trails Association,” said Mark Schorn of the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. Schorn presented Berry-Maraist with a yellow bouquet of flowers.

“I have never met anybody who has spent so much of her personal time working on projects,” he said. “We, as citizens, often take politicians for granted and have negative ideas about politicians, but for the most part, the tireless effort that all of you put in for the betterment for the greater good, I want to thank you all for that, in particular Linda.”

Finally, each council member reflected on his or her time serving with the councilwoman and thanked her for her work. Mayor Becky Erickson presented Berry-Maraist with a plaque honoring her service and support, as did staff from the engineering and planning departments.

“I have enjoyed working with you so much that I think I have even gotten over you being a Stanford graduate,” Councilman Ed Stern quipped. “She gives the saying, ‘Work hard and play hard’ a whole new twist — it’s ‘work hard, and work hard and work hard.'”

Erickson, who before she was elected mayor became a council member at the same time as Berry-Maraist, said the councilwoman will be missed as she knows so many little details about the city.

“I want to say a huge, enormous thank you,” Erickson said. “Linda works her tail off for this city.”

Berry-Maraist, an architect, is president of the board of directors of the North Kitsap Trails Association.