Former Centralia Mayor Pro-tem Peter Abbarno, who was recently elected to serve as the State Representative for the 20th District, announced his resignation from the Centralia city council at the Tuesday evening council meeting. Councilor Max Vogt was appointed to serve as the city’s mayor pro-tem moving forward.
Abbarno’s last meeting will be on Tuesday, Dec. 9 if the last meeting of the year is canceled, which has been the tradition. He was most recently elected to the council in 2019 and his term was set to expire at the end of 2023.
“Assuming that the last December meeting is canceled, I wanted to let the council know that the next meeting will be my last meeting. I will be resigning my position at the end of the year,” Abbarno said. “I love the council and I intend to call in as much as I can to listen to what’s happening here.”
To fill the vacant role, Councilor Elizabeth Cameron nominated Max Vogt to serve as mayor pro-tem and Councilor Rebecca Staebler nominated Councilor Kelly Smith Johnston.
Vogt, who has served on the council for about six years and has served as mayor pro-tem in a previous term, was appointed after receiving votes from Councilors Abbarno, Elizabeth Cameron, Cameron McGee and Mayor Susan Luond.
“I want to thank everyone for voting me mayor pro-tem. I’m very honored and I will serve the best I can. I work very hard in any position I’m in so I promise to continue to do that,” Vogt said.
After announcing his resignation, Abbarno some thoughts on how he feels the council should continue to operate, saying that decisions that the council is faced with are not always mutually exclusive.
“I think our council and our city should aim to find that balance for the folks in our community that we serve. I’m hoping to take that same philosophy to Olympia where it’s often tougher to live up to those words, but I’m certain this council has shown a good balance in policy and not politizing policy which is equally important,” Abbarno said.
Abbarno is currently 20th District State Representative-elect after receiving 71 percent of the vote in the general election this year.
“I’m really pleased that he is going to be in Olympia representing us. I don’t think we could ask for any better. We are really fortunate that he knows the local area so well,” Centralia Mayor Susan Luond said.
