Adkinson takes interim city administrator role in Ephrata

EPHRATA - The City of Ephrata experienced a few changes Monday as Ephrata Police Chief Kurt Adkinson stepped down as chief and took over the role as interim City Administrator for the City of Ephrata. Captain Erik Koch was appointed as the new Chief of Police.

“My life has been spent in law enforcement so I am excited to put my eyes on a new challenge,” said Adkinson.

Adkinson said the decision to step into the City Administrator role and leave the police department, was due to a health-related family situation. He said he already knew when Ephrata Mayor Bruce Reim approached him about the city position, that he would probably be stepping down as Police Chief sometime in 2023 and this created an opportunity for him to transition from working with the city in a more gradual way.

Adkinson said he came to the Ephrata Police Department in 2020 after retiring from the Washington State Patrol.

“(My time with EPD was) shorter than I had hoped but incredibly proud of the people of the Ephrata Police Department,” said Adkinson. “I would stack Ephrata PD up against any other police department any day.”

Adkinson said the people of the department were what attracted him to Ephrata and the police department in the first place.

“This is a great city to work for and there’s great people working here,” Adkinson said.

He also noted that his number one priority, as the interim city administrator, is to find his replacement - a permanent city administrator for the City of Ephrata.

“I’m looking forward to getting out and doing some networking, some recruiting and trying to find that next person that’s going to come in here and be a rockstar for the city in the coming years,” said Adkinson.

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