SALEM — Susan Morgan — one of five gubernatorial appointees on the Oregon Transportation Commission — is leaving her more than 15-year stint in state and local government to pursue a career as a lobbyist.

The Republican from Douglas County said she has accepted a position with the Association of Oregon Counties. The association represents counties’ interests and lobbies for policies at the state level.

“I am very excited about it,” Morgan said. “AOC is a wonderful organization. I am very pleased to be able to do this transition. I am ready for a change.”

Morgan’s role will involve lobbying for the counties’ interests in a transportation package lawmakers will consider in the 2017 legislative session. She will work with AOC’s transportation manager, Mike Eliason. After that, her lobbying efforts will focus largely on timber policy and other issues related to natural resources. As a former member of the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009, Morgan worked on natural resource policy.

Morgan’s departure comes at a critical time for the Oregon Department of Transportation and the transportation commission, which oversees the agency. The department is under scrutiny as part of an ongoing performance audit. The audit is designed to make sure the agency is prepared to efficiently manage the massive influx of funds that would come from a transportation package. Morgan leads the oversight committee for the audit and plans to remain as the committee’s chairwoman until the end of the more than $1 million audit by New York-based McKinsey & Co.

“She has been an incredible member and added a lot of expertise to the Oregon Transportation Commission,” said Tammy Baney, chairwoman of the Oregon Transportation Commission. “She will be a benefit to us in her new position, but she will leave a bit of a hole and big shoes to fill when she is gone.”

Gov. Kate Brown’s spokespeople did not respond to inquiries from the Pamplin Media Group/EO Media Group Capital Bureau about how she plans to find a successor for Morgan on the transportation commission.

Baney said she plans to consult with her other colleagues on the commission to provide the governor with some recommendations.

Oregon law requires that the commission represent different geographic regions of the state. At least one member must live east of the Cascade Range. Baney, who lives in Bend, fulfills that requirement.

No more than three members may belong to any one political party. Brown could choose to appoint a successor from any political party, because without Morgan, there is equal representation of Democrats and Republicans.

Baney, who is a Deschutes County commissioner; Morgan, and Commissioner Sean B. O’Hollaren, vice president of government relations at Nike, are Republicans. Commissioner Alando L. Simpson, owner of City of Roses Disposal & Recycling, and Commissioner David H. Lohman, an Ashland attorney, are Democrats.

Morgan, who has served as a Douglas County commissioner for the past six years, launched a successful legal challenge to voter-approved term limits on Douglas County commissioners. That opened the way for her to file for election to a third term, but she withdrew from the race before votes were cast in the primary. After she left the running, her opponent, Gary Leif, won her seat and will succeed her in January.