Q&A: Moses Lake City Council Position 6

MOSES LAKE – Victor Lombardi and Jeremy Nolan are both running for Position 6 on the Moses Lake City Council.

The Columbia Basin Herald asked each candidate the questions below with matching word count restrictions and a deadline to submit responses. The newspaper encourages voters to contact the candidates if they want to discuss issues in more depth.

Responses are in alphabetical order according to the candidates’ last names.

Election Day is Nov. 7; ballots should be arriving by mail soon and early voting has already begun.

What specific changes do you plan to help make, if any, to law enforcement and public safety in Moses Lake?

Lombardi: The primary duty of every city, state and country is to ensure the safety of citizens and protection of property. I will work with staff and council to make this the first priority for the 2025 budget.

• “Community Court”: A good start but needs to be empowered with some form of detention. City jails are near full; to make this effective I will do intensive research into reestablishing an outdoor jail that would be for 15-30 day-detentions. This jail would also provide mental health evaluations and detox capability.
• Graffiti: the newer graffiti ordinance which I helped initiate is already reducing graffiti and lessening gang activity.
• Police staffing: reevaluate the budget to include more staff as calls are up 20% over the last 5 years.
• School resource officers: Extremely successful in reducing school violence but also gang recruitment. I will encourage expanding on this.
• Increase technology: Has been very effective in both apprehension and prevention but must be balanced with civil liberties.
• Portal designs: Implement immediately my website portal designs for retailers to report all crime, giving the city the data it never could achieve and creating better proactive strategies.
  

Nolan: There are two main changes. First, I want to increase the police force specifically to combat gangs and drugs. Second, there needs to be investment for the fire department to keep up with the growth of the city. Both of these important public safety aspects of Moses Lake have lagged behind the overall growth of the community and deserve the appropriate resources for the vital role they serve.

Moses Lake is seeing much growth — do you believe the city needs to improve its infrastructure to support this growth, and how would you make that happen?

Lombardi: Absolutely;

• Zoning/annexation: Increase “city limits” to provide more affordable lots for our severe housing crisis.
• Providing the basis for my local realtor Affordable Housing design. Initiate a faster permitting design increased by better software and logistics planning.
• Transportation: Better access to both the port and to the city. Building bridges will facilitate this and provide multiple long term solutions.
• Water: A combination of misinformation, disinformation and insufficient information has divided the citizens as to whether we have a water shortage. I will work to provide the public with the final answers. This is a complex issue due to the agencies involved — DOE, DOH, EPA — as well as the costs involved to resolve it. The citizens will need to be well informed because decisions have to be made as to what water purity is acceptable and its costs depending on the decisions. Solutions are available.
• Roads: We need to ensure access is very well thought out as this should include 20-50 years of growth. Both placement and configuration will be critical as well the costs.
• Utilities: The placement of utilities and the costs to support this infrastructure will definitely require citizen input.

Nolan: Absolutely; the city needs to continue to improve its infrastructure for the city to continue growing and prospering. This includes investment in water, sewer and transportation infrastructure. To improve the infrastructure will require money, so resources need to be obtained through state and federal grants, along with taxes. The city engineering team will also likely need supplemented for a period of time with either an additional engineer or a contract support team.

In your opinion, what are Moses Lake’s strengths and how do you plan on capitalizing them?

Lombardi: I’ve said from day one that our citizens, with their strong religious base, are Moses Lake’s greatest asset. This religious base has helped us weather the most tumultuous periods in time. It is no coincidence that former mighty cities like Seattle and Portland are crumbling with no end in sight, while its citizens identifying as religious are dwindling.

From a narrative standpoint, the four F’s that define who we are; faith, family, freedom and farms are the backbone of our city and makeup. This is a proven formula and we must not deviate from this and succumb to the pressures of false ideologies.

Our diversified economy based on producing goods, services, manufacturing and crops now has an advanced technology sector to balance this out even more. This diversification coupled with land to grow, water access, large airport and abundant cheap power make us the envy of many cities.

Although I’ve provided examples in the past how to expand our economy with these assets, it must be coordinated with the port, Economic Development Council, real estate industry, the utilities and of course city council members. But we must first engage the citizens and make sure their wants and needs are included.

Nolan: Moses Lake has many strengths and this addresses a few. The work force around Moses Lake is a great, hard working group that can meet employer needs. This is a huge draw for potential new businesses, especially when paired with the resources at Big Bend for tailored education and training services. The lake is a tremendous asset that is under utilized. The vacant private land around the lake is quickly disappearing and a cohesive plan for both public and private uses needs to be put together quickly before all options are gone. For example, a commercial lakefront development of a resort/hospitality would help to drive lake usage, retail sales and employment along with potentially extending the seasonal usage in the Dunes. This would be a great win for the community.

How can the public contact you?

Lombardi: The best way to reach me is at my website votevictor.org and clicking on the contact prompt, and my email specifically dedicated for citizens; votevictormoseslake@gmail.com.

Nolan: Email: Jeremy_nolan@yahoo.com

Mobile: 509-989-8338

www.facebook.com/ElectJeremyNolan