Cox appointed interim Soap Lake city administrator

SOAP LAKE - Soap Lake Police Chief Ryan Cox will be appointed at the next city council meeting as the Interim City Administrator for Soap Lake.

“In reality, this is more of a city manager, a manager of projects, not really an administrator over everybody,” said Cox.

Cox explained that while in other cities it could be considered a conflict of interest to have the police chief also be the city administrator, the City of Soap Lake is set up in a way that it is not. He further stated that he is already handling a lot of duties of the administrator since the city’s previous administrator departed at the end of June to pursue another position elsewhere.

“It was suggested by several civilians,” Cox said on how he became the focus for the interim position. “And when it was asked of me, I said, well, I do three-fourths of it anyways.”

He said with the new position some things he will take on include overseeing city projects, grant work and arranging training. He noted this position doesn’t have him overseeing any other departments in the city, as the city administrator is a department in and of itself and reports directly to the mayor.

Cox was initially supposed to be appointed at the Sept. 21 meeting but the issue was tabled to the next meeting on Oct. 5.

“We are doing the contract with chief for six months or until I find somebody,” said Soap Lake Mayor Michelle Agliano.

Agliano said she is actively interviewing applicants for the position and is still accepting applications.

“We’re really looking for somebody who has some strong administrator or managerial skills,” said Agliano. “Someone who can work with our engineers, work with the public, do various tasks that are assigned to them from the city council and myself.”

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