Moses Lake selects new mayor, deputy mayor

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake City Council selected a new mayor and deputy mayor.

Councilmember Karen Liebrecht’s first motion of her council career was to nominate Councilmember Jon Lane as mayor. Councilmember Bill Ecret seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Councilmember Richard Pearce nominated Ecret as deputy mayor and Councilmember Dick Deane seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Lane and Ecret were applauded by the audience.

Ron Covey was the previous mayor of Moses Lake. He is no longer on the council. Pearce was the previous deputy mayor.

“I’d like to welcome our new council people,” Lane said. “It’s a pleasure to have someone new on the council.”

Councilmember David Curnel and Liebrecht are the newest members.

Lane noted it appears Curnel is the only medical doctor to ever serve the council that he can recall and Liebrecht is the first woman to serve in many years.

“Welcome and we look forward to serving together with you,” he said.

As one of Lane’s first orders of business, he asked everyone to hold a moment of silence for the loss of Grant County sheriff’s deputy John Bernard.

“I’m honored and humbled to be the mayor,” Lane said. “I do have a story. When I was a young man and I was preparing for confirmation at my church, my dad was working for L & S Construction and it just so happened that Alex Law was his boss.”

Law was a previous mayor and Lane’s confirmation sponsor.

“Maybe we’ve come full circle,” he said. “I would hope that my role in this is to honor him and honor all who have served the city in the past and I really look forward to it. I want this council to work together as a group. Sometimes we’re going to disagree and that’s okay. We’re going to do what’s best for the city. There’s going to be a great future. Last of all, let’s have fun.”

Ecret thanked council for selecting him as deputy mayor.

“I look forward to the next four years on council and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.

Lane thanked Pearce for his service as mayor and deputy mayor.

“He is our longest serving councilman and we certainly took to him for his wisdom and his knowledge and experience,” he said.

Liebrecht and Curnel said they attended the Association of Washington Cities conference in Spokane prior to participating in their first council meeting Tuesday. The conference was to prepare them for their service and educate them about public meetings and their role with the city.

“It is a delight and honor to be here,” Liebrecht said.