Ecret's seat open to applications

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake will be accepting resumes and letters of interest from city residents who wish to fill the seat on the council that was left vacant after council member Bill Ecret resigned last week.

Ecret previously submitted a letter detailing his resignation from the city council due to moving outside of city limits. Ecret was serving in Position No. 1 on the city council and his term was set to expire on Dec. 31. Despite serving in Position No. 1, Ecret filed to run for Position No. 4, which is a position currently held by Mayor Todd Voth, in the August primary. Voth had initially filed to run for Position No. 4, but later withdrew and filed to run against candidates Mike Riggs and Dean Hankins for Position No. 1.

The council can appoint someone to the open position, with the chosen person serving the remainder of the term through Dec. 31.

“Since we do have an upcoming election on that, that would be the end of that term for that particular position or that particular appointment,” City Manager John Williams explained during Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Williams said the council has 90 days to make the appointment, per the Revised Code of Washington, and if the council does not make the appointment in 90 days, the decision goes to the Grant County Board of Commissioners. If the commissioners do not make a decision in 180 days, the decision would go to the governor’s office.

“A lot of times when these appointments are made though, they would I say more often are sort of mid-term, as opposed to the end of their term. And so that’s the uniqueness in this case, is that you are looking right at probably by the time if you were to make the appointment, somebody would probably be serving no more than 120 days in that appointment,” Williams said.

The decision and process on how to appoint a person to the vacant seat is completely up to the council. Council member Karen Liebrecht suggested the city make it public they are looking for applicants, have a cut off date to receive letters of interest from prospective appointees, and possibly vote on the appointment at the next council meeting on July 25.

The council passed a motion to make it public that the city is looking to fill the open position and to have prospective applicants submit a resume and letter of intent by July 19, with the expectation of being interviewed by the council at a public meeting. Not all of the council members were on board with the idea, as the motion passed in a 4-2 vote. Council members Don Myers and Ryann Leonard voted against the motion.

“I would prefer not to appoint someone, due to the fact that we are coming up on our budget and that is one of our biggest policy decisions. If we just throw somebody in here, that might throw a wrench in our decision making,” Myers stated.

With regard to the election issue, Ecret was the sole person to have filed for Position No. 4, with his letter detailing an out-of-city move that made him ineligible for the position. Williams said the city is of the belief, per the RCW, that because Ecret was the only person to have filed for the seat, a three-day filing period should be reopened. City officials are still waiting to get final word back from the county’s legal department, which is in contact with the state Secretary of State’s office, on the next steps in the process.

People wanting to express their interest for Position No. 1 have until 5 p.m. July 19. Information can be brought to the Moses Lake Civic Center, 401 S. Balsam St.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.