MEDICAL LAKE – Mayor Terri Cooper opened the floor for councilman Don Kennedy to take over as Mayor Pro-Tem initially, so Judge Richard Leland could be sworn in as the Municipal Judge for the next four years.
Other committee positions needed filled as well, and Mayor Terri Cooper volunteered herself to sit on that board. Council unanimously approved the appointment.
Mayor Cooper then asked for a volunteer to be part of the Housing and Community Development Division Advisory Committee, and councilman Chad Pritchard said he would like to take that position. Council quickly approved his placement.
Councilwoman Heather Starr was also announced as the Chair of the Finance Committee.
A discussion regarding Medical Lake requesting emergency funding was brought to council attention, and Mayor Cooper discussed the topic.
She said the non-profit was requesting $50,000 again, and much of this was due to residents having late bills and rent. Cooper also said the group has roughly $5,000 left in their budget and that is all accounted for as they continue to see a lot of assistance requests.
Cooper said when she spoke to the group officials explained they only cover two-months of the past due amount for residents, and people need to prove residency and utility or rent delinquency before they can be approved for assistance.
City Administrator Doug Ross said recently the city raised the late fee by seven dollars and that caught some residents by surprise. He also said the city put out 107 utility shut off notices recently, and the collective total owed for these bills city wide is $49,000.
A brief discussion led to councilman Kennedy to make a motion for the funding which was quickly seconded by council Art Kulibert and then approved by council.
Mayor Cooper then brought the discussion of in person meetings to council, and said she would like to return to in person meetings with the option of remotely participating as well. She said masks will be a probable requirement.
Councilwoman Heather Starr expressed some concern over the size of the council chambers, and asked about spacing for in person meetings.
Councilman Kennedy said he doesn’t care about spacing or whether people wear masks or not, and councilwoman Dawn Olmstead expressed that she wants to return to in person meetings and said she has a medical exemption from wearing masks which the other council members fully supported.
One councilman Bob Maxwell said he wants to see a return to in person meetings, but also expressed that he would probably wear a mask.
Moving forward many council members expressed a desire to implement an in person model with the option to participate remotely, and will continue to work to allocate and implement the technologies to hold hybrid model meetings.
Matthew can be reached at [email protected]
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