CHENEY—The Airway Heights city council voted to fill its two vacant seats Monday after a lengthy interview process to determine the best suitable candidates.
Hank Bynaker, a local business owner and former CEO of the Port of Astoria, Oregon, was named to Position 1. At the same time, the council welcomed former mayor Kevin Richey to fill the Position 2 vacancy.
After much deliberation over the past month, the decisions were unanimous.
Bynaker, who owns the local company Advanced Safety Technologies, Inc., has had an extensive career managing shipping operations across multiple modes of transportation. He has recently held a seat on the city’s planning commission.
Bringing in decades of management experience, Bynaker voiced a calm approach to the council’s tasks.
“I don’t really operate by gut feeling—I’m pretty data driven,” Bynaker said in the final round of interviews last week. “I don’t want to make any issue worse by guessing.”
Richey, an assistant chief at the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, held a seat in the Airway Heights council chambers for 12 years, serving four years as the city’s deputy mayor and another four as mayor before departing in 2020. He cited a new promotion at the office as a reason for his departure.
In addition to its new members, the city council appointed a seven-person Arts Commission consisting of Mikayla Daniels, Chris Bovey, Cozette Phillips, Lynn Schumal, Tina Nemena, Lisa Specht and Matthew Stephen. The arts commission will focus on directing city beautification and culture.
The commission members came from various backgrounds relating to the arts and underwent a similar interview process to that of the new council members.
Council members who also serve on the Transportation Benefit District (TBD) board voted to include a sales tax increase on November’s ballot. The proposed increase from $0.002 to $0.003 per dollar on purchases in the city will if passed by voters, partially fund transportation infrastructure improvements.
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