Re-elected Councilor Daryl Lund and re-eleced Mayor Dennis Dawes at the Monday night city council meeting.
The newly elected and re-elected Chehalis city councilors get sworn in at the Monday night city council meeting.
Councilor Jerry Lord recites the oath of office while being sworn in to the Chehalis city council at the Monday night city council meeting.
Newly elected Chehalis City Councilor, Jerry Lord, district 1, and re-elected councilors Dr. Isaac Pope, district 4, Daryl Lund, district 2, and Tony Ketchum, district 3, were sworn in at the Chehalis city council meeting on Monday Jan. 13, 2020. In addition, Dennis Dawes was re-elected by the council to continue serving as mayor of Chehalis and Councilor Chad Taylor was elected by the council to serve as mayor pro-tem.
The four city councilors were sworn in at the beginning of the meeting at about 5 p.m. on Monday evening by municipal court judge Dale McBeth. Each council member being sworn in signed their oath of office in front of McBeth, after reciting the oath aloud.
Lund, Pope, and Ketchum served previous terms on the council and were re-elected in the most recent election. Lord is new to the council after running against former councilor Terry Harris and winning.
“Congratulations and welcome back and welcome to the new member,” Dawes said after the swearing in of the four councilors.
Lund nominated Dawes for the position of mayor and it was seconded by Councilor Bob Spahr. The vote to re-elect Dawes as mayor was unanimous.
“Thank you very much. I appreciate you letting me finish out my term on the council as mayor and I will do my best to represent the city well,” Dawes said after the motion passed.
The vote by the council to elect Taylor as mayor pro-tem was unanimous as well. The position of both the mayor and mayor pro-tem are two-year terms.
To accompany the swearing in of the councilors, the council had to fill the openings on the council committees and board assignments that were left vacant by Harris’ departure. Lord filled the openings on the Chehalis Community Renaissance Team, Chehalis Parks Subcommittee, Council Budget Committee, Lewis County Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and the Lewis County Solid Waste Disposal District Executive Committee.
Spahr filled the opening left on the Council Voucher Committee and Taylor replaced Harris on the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. The council appointed Harris to keep his position on the Chehalis River Basin Partnership.
“Since we lost (our) wastewater superintendent to retirement we’ve asked Terry to stay on that because there’s a lot of institutional knowledge and in the past that’s not one that everyone’s clamored to get on either and Terry is the current chair of (Chehalis River Basin Partnership),” Dawes said.
The appointment will last two years.
In other business, Dawes read a proclamation that deemed Jan. 9, 2020 as Law Enforcement Appreciation Day in the city of Chehalis.
“Whereas the health and safety of Chehalis residents is important to the happiness, prosperity, and well-being of our city’s families and our community and whereas Chehalis is the proud home of dedicated law enforcement that put their lives on the line daily to keep our city safe,” read the proclamation.
The proclamation then stated that the mayor and council urge all citizens to take a moment out of their day to show appreciation to Chehalis law enforcement officers. Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer attended the meeting to represent Chehalis law enforcement and accepted the proclamation from Dawes.
