Soap Lake appoints new mayor

SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake City Council named Michelle Agliano as the city’s new mayor at its last meeting.

During the meeting on May 18,the council also named Leslie Taylor as the Soap Lake’s new mayor pro tempore.

Following Taylor’s appointment, Michelle Agliano was motioned and seconded as the new mayor. She then took the oath of office as the mayor of Soap Lake, which turned out to have been a misstep. The process should have included a vote by the council after the motion for Agliano was seconded before the oath was to take place.

The misstep was something attendees had questioned as soon as the meeting was up.

On Friday, a special meeting was called by the council to call the vote and confirm the appointment for mayor. Council member Leslie Taylor said the virtual meeting was attended by only four of the six remaining members of the city council along with Agliano. Taylor said all four of the members of the council in attendance voted yes for the confirmation of Agliano — a unanimous quartet.

Rebecca Pettingill can be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.