Cox appointed interim Soap Lake City Administrator

SOAP LAKE — Peter Sharp ran his first regular Soap Lake City Council meeting as the Mayor Pro Tempore after former Mayor Allen DuPuy resigned earlier this month. There were 23 people in attendance outside of the council, police, fire department and public officials.

Sharp was elected to the role after Leslie Taylor stepped down at last week's meeting, citing that she had spent too many hours in the office. Taylor resigned from the council during closing comments, reported on in yesterday’s edition of the Columbia Basin Herald.

“I appreciate everyone that’s coming tonight, and I understand there are a lot of concerns and things going on in the city,” Sharp said at the beginning of the meeting. “Everything is running smoothly. We have a little bit of back and forth, but everyone is happy. We’re moving forward, everything is great. We’re happy. We’re all together. There is no argument.”

There was a thirty-minute discussion on the city administrator position resulting in a 5-2 vote to establish Soap Lake Police Chief Ryan Cox as the interim city administrator.

Judith Gorman opposed citing that it would be cheaper to place a new mayor in and have an election. However, the other council members said they would rather take their time on establishing a new mayor.

Soap Lake has had multiple changes to the mayoral seat over the last few years. Alex Kovach resigned from the seat May 4, 2022, and now serves as the city’s engineer. Michelle Agliano then served in the post from 2022 until 2023 when she went on leave while an investigation into inappropriate conduct was underway. Afterward, DuPuy was elected and chose to step down earlier this month.

Sharp also explained that an election is not feasible now because there will be one next year. Leslie Taylor also opposed Cox’s appointment without comment.

Sharp then talked about how Mark Novack, a local contractor will be putting a small sidewalk in at the west beach to connect the lake and the established sidewalk. Novack will be laying the sidewalk for free this weekend to make it so people don’t have to wash their feet twice from the sand.

Afterward, city officers gave reports on their departments. Grant County Fire District 7 Fire Chief Chris Baker said that the department received two grants. One grant is $513,000 for a new pumper tender and the other one is $259,000 for new breathing apparatus. The new pumper tender will be in Soap Lake within the next 60 days. The department will be having an open house to celebrate.

Next, Cox gave his update. He said that the bigger radar message sign that sits and collects data on the division road was vandalized and is back in the SLPD office until repaired. He also mentioned that bicycle thefts are on the rise.

“That is the number one stolen thing in this county, and they’re also being dumped all over the place where people aren’t advising us that they’re being stolen and we are finding them,” Cox said. “So, if you're missing a bike and you can name it and describe it, we probably have some of them.”

Harold Ross, lead volunteer of code violations, gave his update, including a property owner in Soap Lake who had avoided many attempts of contact to address code violations. Ross said that this has been an ongoing issue with this property since 2019. There are abandoned cars, trash, unkempt dogs, mice and a variety of other issues.

The meeting ended with updates on the street maintenance project, including the start of oiling the roads this Friday. Then there was a vote to raise the deputy clerk's wage by $2 until there is another clerk in office, which passed.