At the town council meeting last week, four council members voted for the appointment of Bourgeois. There were six applicants for the volunteer position.

"I'm very excited and really happy," Bourgeois said. Bourgeois, 34, said that when he learned there was an opening on the commission, he decided to go for it.

"It was the natural next step," he said.

Bourgeois and his wife, Susan Love, moved to Los Gatos in 1999 from Louisiana, where he grew up and went to college. He said he got involved with the town when he served as a tenant representative at Riviera Terrace Apartments. He then served on a subcommittee to look at changes in the apartment ordinance.

In 2003, he enrolled in Leadership Los Gatos, a yearlong leadership class, along with Planning Commissioner Michael Kane, and in April 2004 he was appointed to the parks commission.

Bourgeois said he was surprised to have been chosen, especially after reading the applications submitted by Susan Gomez, Leigh Curtis, Richard Minert, Henry Redmond and Stephen Rice. Kane, however, said Bourgeois is an ideal candidate.

"He was thoroughly prepared--about as prepared as you could be by way of his active participation in Leadership Los Gatos, and by his attendance at most of the planning commission and town council meetings in the last year," Kane said.

Because former Planning Commissioner Morris Trevithick resigned before his term expires in December, Bourgeois will fill Trevithick's position through the end of his term. However, he plans on going through the application and interview process again.

Bourgeois is a senior ecologist and project manager at H.T. Harvey & Associates in San Jose. He received a master's degree in biology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and a bachelor's degree in biology from Tulane University.

He hopes his background in biology, as well as his youth will bring an interesting and needed perspective to the planning commission, even though the position might be a lot of work.

"I understand the workload and I am fully prepared," he said.

Kane said he thinks Bourgeois will be a positive asset to the planning commission.