Don Myers named new Moses Lake mayor

MOSES LAKE — Members of the Moses Lake City Council elected a new mayor on Tuesday, but decided to wait until a new member of the city council is appointed before naming a deputy mayor.

At a regular meeting on Tuesday, council members unanimously elected Don Myers, previously deputy mayor, as the city’s new mayor. Myers, who was elected to the city council in 2015, will serve out the remainder of Dean Hankins’ two-year term as mayor, which ends in December 2023.

Hankins, who was appointed to a vacant city council seat in 2018 and then ran unopposed for election in 2019, resigned last week.

However, council members decided to wait until October, after a new member of the city council is appointed, to fill the deputy mayor slot.

“Is it possible to wait until we install a new council member?” asked Council Member Dustin Swartz. “I would have preferred to have that discussion prior to naming anyone. I would have appreciated that.”

Council members also expressed concern that the council’s current rules also limit those who can serve as mayor or deputy mayor to members who have served on the council for a minimum of two years, which means it can be difficult to fill the position during a high-turnover election like 2021, which saw four new members elected to the seven-member city council.

“What if things happened and we don’t have people with two years of experience?” said Council Member Deanna Martinez.

City Attorney Kathleen Kennison told council members there is no legal requirement to name a new deputy mayor immediately, and that because the two-year limit is council policy, rather than city or state law, the council can waive that with a majority vote.

“The council can dictate its own rules,” she said.

The city is accepting applications for anyone interested in filling the council vacancy. Applicants must be residents of Moses Lake and be registered to vote in Moses Lake. Applications are available on the city’s website (bit.ly/3BFBjSr) and the deadline for submission is Friday, Sept. 23. All applicants will go through a first round of interviews, and finalists will be interviewed a second time, according to City Manager Allison Williams, with the hope of having a new council member selected and seated by the council’s Oct. 7 meeting.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com/