Downtown, cooperation top issues at forum

Moses Lake candidates give views at meeting

MOSES LAKE — Continuing downtown revitalization and working together with other government entities.

Those were the messages many candidates for the Moses Lake City Council spoke to Wednesday night at a candidate forum at Moses Lake High School.

City council races dominated the forum, which was open to all Moses Lake area candidates. About 30 people came out for the event, the second and last before the election Nov. 8.

Fernando Alvarez is running against Bill Ecret for City Council Position No. 1 and cited his history in Moses Lake as a physical educator and his work as a co-chair of the Community Gardens project and former member of the Moses Lake Parks and Recreation Commission. He said he's looking forward to the challenge and is interested in giving back to the community he has lived in most of his life.

Alvarez complimented the current council on its progressive stance on issues regarding a more walkable community and downtown revitalization, and said the city should continue to work alongside groups like the Grant County Economic Development Council to achieve its goals.

"We need to work hand in hand with them and hopefully attract more business into town," Alvarez said.

Ecret, a Moses Lake Planning commissioner and radio station director, told gathered audience members that he's running to ensure the best quality of life for Moses Lake residents.

As a member of the planning commission, Ecret suggested initiating a program coordinator position to simplify the process for developers coming into town. He also cited his belief that the entities like the Grant County Commissioners and Chamber of Commerce and others should work together for improvements like a second road crossing across Moses Lake solving water and sewer issues at the Grant County Fairgrounds.

"We need to work together, we need to have open communication and cooperation," Ecret said.

Also present at Wednesday's forum was Moses Lake Mayor Ron Covey who is running unopposed in his bid for a third full term at Council Position No. 2. With regard to downtown revitalization, Covey said the city was taking its time and looking at every aspect of the issues.

He also said he would like to improve discussions between the city and the county, and said he wanted all ill will and hard feelings that have been present over the years between the two entities to vanish, so issues like creating a year-round facility at the Grant County Fairgrounds could be accomplished.

In the other council race, Jim Liebrecht is running against Chet Paine for Council Position No. 5. Liebrecht is the owner of Animal Crackers and cited his history in Moses Lake and experience on the planning commission as an asset to the council.

Liebrecht said recreation continues to be a draw for the area, and also continued to show his support of city and Vision 2020 downtown revitalization efforts.

"I've never seen such closeness and tight-knit groups in all the years I've been here," Liebrecht said of those efforts.

Paine is running for the city council for the second time, and the U.S. Navy serviceman mentioned his history in Moses Lake as the owner of Chet's Drive-in and the South Shore Restaurant.

In speaking to questions regarding downtown, Paine reiterated comments that improvements made should benefit the businessmen who work downtown.

As a former member of the council, Paine told the audience that he always represented the people who had voted for him and came to meetings with concerns.

"When you came into the chamber and you needed something," Paine said, "you had a good listener."

Paine again came out against a fireworks ban in the city of Moses Lake.

"Fourth of July belongs to you people," Paine said, "you celebrated it and I want you continue to celebrate it."

But others came out for at least limiting fireworks in the city limits and promoted the city's fireworks display at McCosh Park. Alvarez and Covey each showed their support for some kind of fireworks ban.

Liebrecht proposed controlling fireworks in a specific area, and Ecret proposed working with the county commissioners for coordinated fireworks displays at the Moses Lake sand dunes.

"I think we need to have some sort of restrictions in our area because certain neighborhoods are worse than others," Ecret said.

Also present at the race was Debra Hembrof, who is running as a candidate for Hospital District No. 1. Hembroff has worked at the hospital for 16 years as a registered nurse and now is employed at the Moses Lake Clinic. She said the district has a strong and viable hospital system and said she is running on supporting what's already in place and helping the hospital move forward.

Hembroff was facing Dick Smith in the race for Hospital District No. 1, but Smith dropped out of the race earlier this week to take a job outside the area, and was not present at Wednesday's forum.

Representatives for initiatives were also invited to Wednesday's forum, and attorney Kathleen G. Kilcullen with Calbom and Schwab of Moses Lake who came to oppose Initiative 330.

"I-330 is the wrong solution," Kilcullen said, "it doesn't do what it is proposing to do. It does not protect doctors from predatory insurance rate pricing which is the problem."

Dr. Craig Hart was also scheduled to speak on I-330 but organizers said he was on-call and unavailable during the event.

Mary Allen, director of the Multi Agency Communications Center, also spoke and reiterated the need for improvements at the emergency dispatch center. A recent AdComm engineering report priced repairs at the center at $7 million. The Grant County Commissioners have placed a one-tenth of one percent sales tax increase proposition on the ballot to help pay for those repairs.