Moses Lake adopts new logo, swears in new officers
MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake officially has a new logo.
At a regular meeting on Tuesday, the Moses Lake City Council approved a new logo for the city, one based largely on the 80th anniversary logo the city has been using this year.
According to City Manager John Williams, the city is going to copyright the logo and require written permission from anyone else seeking to use it.
“It will belong to the city exclusively, solely for our use,” Williams told council members. “There is a similar logo that the Chamber of Commerce uses as well.”
Williams said the new logo will slowly replace older logos — such as those on city water towers — over time, as things need to be repainted or stationery or forms need to be reprinted.
“I want to see the other logo go away,” said council member Ryann Leonard.
The initial logo design was done by students in design program at Walla Walla Community College, Williams said, though it was cleaned up by a professional design agency before being sent to the council for approval.
The city is also beginning to examine what to do about the homeless encampments sprouting up following a recent ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that laws forbidding people from sleeping on the streets or in public parks constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” if a city doesn’t have a shelter with overnight space.
“Boise is petitioning to ask the full 9th Circuit to look at this,” said City Attorney Katherine Kenison.
Gil Alvarado, community development director and deputy city manager, said that he noticed on a recent trip to Seattle that a lot of cities, big and small, are struggling with increased homelessness.
“A lot of the issues are common,” Alvarado said, noting that Seattle recently removed 6 million pounds of trash from homeless encampments.
“We’re beginning to look at it,” Alvarado said. “We’re not turning a blind eye, but this is a very difficult issue.”
“There’s not a simple solution,” Leonard said. “You can’t just open a building and let people sleep in there. We have to do something and we’re going to do something, but there’s a lot of legal issues.”
Police Chief Kevin Fuhr also swore in two new police officers, recent college graduate Mitch Hohman and Marine veteran and former Grant County corrections officer Todd Taylor. Both are longtime residents and graduates of Moses Lake High School.
“They’re both Moses Lake people, and we’re lucky to have them,” Fuhr said.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.