Mattawa City Council designates new point of contact

MATTAWA — The Mattawa City Council passed a resolution Thursday updating the city’s personnel handbook. The change states the mayor is the sole point of media contact for the city, unless the mayor delegates the job to a staff person.

City of Mattawa Attorney Katherine Kennison said the change was requested by the council but did not say why the council made the request. She also said an official point of contact is for news media and press releases.

“It’s something your insurer would probably prefer, to have one point of contact for major issues,” Kennison said.

The change passed unanimously.

Under the former mayor, Scott Hyndman, news media were able to contact various city department heads for clarification of city council meetings or events around town. With the change, that is no longer possible.

Mayor Maggie Celaya asked anyone wishing to contact her text her because “text works best to identify the caller and avoid spam calls.”

When the Columbia Basin Herald texted Celaya with a request for an interview, she responded by asking to be contacted via email. Celaya responded to further attempts to contact her by email and text, but refused to answer any questions or set up a time for an interview.