Moses Lake program to encourage residents to volunteer their talents

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake City Administrator Rob Karlinsey said it’s starting small, but city officials are looking to recruit volunteers to help improve the town.  

Karlinsey said city officials will be asking people to help clean streets and other public spaces. There will be more volunteer opportunities to follow. 

“We also plan on utilizing volunteers to help with the cleanup of private properties, the owners of which do not have the means to hire the work,” Karlinsey said in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. At a June 16 town hall, he said that’s already underway. 

“We've done it a few times, but there's going to be more of that where the community is going to be asked to come in and lend a helping hand to those who aren't able,” he said.  

Volunteer crews have already been out on Moses Lake streets; about 15 people did some work on East Wheeler Road on June 13. 

“They picked up litter, they swept sidewalks, they took care of vegetation and some other things, they even found a shopping cart full of junk,” Karlinsey said. 

Tina Jewell, one of the code enforcement employees, said the volunteers picked up enough trash to fill eight or nine 39-gallon trash bags. 

Karlinsey said for now, volunteers will be asked to concentrate on cleaning up places that have a tendency to get dirty and city officials have a place in mind.  

“One thing we're working on is with Washington's State Department of Transportation – we want to incorporate their Adopt a Highway,” Karlinsey said. “The first one we want to tackle is the Stratford interchange. You guys know how bad that can get. About once a year, the (Washington) Department of Ecology sends volunteers to that intersection to clean it out, but we think it probably needs more than just once a year. That's where Moses Lake residents can come in and help, maybe like quarterly or something like that, and we can adopt that interchange.” 

Karlinsey said the goal is to get people more connected with their community. 

“This concept that we are really trying to get out into the community is what we call shared stewardship, where government is isn't always the answer, and government doesn't have to do anything, where we rely more and more on our people to help us,” he said.  

“This town is full of co-creators, people who want to give to their community and want to be involved,” he said. “We want you to help co-create what’s going on in this community. We don’t want it to be just 100 percent the city and city staff doing everything. We want to be able to utilize you and help you feel like you’re part of the solution,” he said. 

City officials plan to expand the program next year, with a projected launch date of 2027.