While those who knew and worked with her at Mossyrock City Hall are still mourning her loss, city staff are searching for an appointee to replace Mossyrock City Councilor Beatrice Minnear and serve out the remainder of her term.
Minnear died March 22 at the age of 81.
According to state law, the city has 90 days to choose Minnear’s replacement on the council following the date of her death, at which point the Board of Lewis County Commissioners is required to step in and appoint someone qualified to fill the vacancy.
Currently, Mossyrock staff are accepting letters of intent from any Mossyrock resident who has lived in the community for at least one year and is a registered voter.
The letters will be reviewed by the remaining four councilors and Mossyrock Mayor Randall Sasser, who will then hold a public interview process before selecting an appointee to serve out the remainder of Minnear’s term.
Minnear was first elected to the council in 2019 and was in the second year of her second four-year term after being reelected in 2023. Those interested in filling the position can drop off their letters of intent at Mossyrock City Hall during its normal business hours. City hall is located at 231 E. State St. in Mossyrock.
“They leave a footprint. When you go through life, you talk about footprints. And you go to the beach and leave a footprint there, it gets washed away. But in our communities, we have people that have footprints that will never be washed away,” Sasser said.
The Chronicle visited Sasser in Mossyrock on Tuesday, April 8, to talk about their search for a new councilor and about the six years he spent serving on the council alongside Minnear.
“B, she was a great person, because she comes into our community from out of state, moves here and immediately gets involved in whatever she can do,” Sasser said.
A former federal law enforcement official with the FBI and a mother of two, Minnear first moved to Mossyrock in 2017. Even in her 70s, she was still volunteering with the Mossyrock Police Department.
“Her calling, I feel, I don’t want to say fact-checker, but if we needed something proofread, she was that person. She would go, ‘Oh wait a minute, there should be a dot here, or this or that here,’” Sasser said. “... It didn’t matter what activity she was in. If it was the police being in the auxiliary, parks meetings, with city council, she was just involved with everybody.”
Just prior to her death, Sasser visited Minnear in hospice care with her family in Oregon and got to learn a lot more about her life prior to Mossyrock, including traveling to Europe with her mother aboard the famous SS United States ocean liner.
Originally owned by United States Lines and officially the largest ocean liner entirely constructed in America, the SS United States made its maiden voyage in 1952 and still holds the Blue Riband for highest average speed since the maiden voyage.
The iconic steam-turbine powered ship carried both celebrities and immigrants across the Trans-Atlantic voyage up until the financial collapse of United States Lines in 1969, when the ship was abruptly withdrawn from service. After changing ownership several times and falling into disrepair, the ship’s furnishings were stripped out and sold at auction and towed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it remained until this past February.
The ship is currently being towed to the Gulf of Mexico after it was purchased by Okaloosa County in Florida with the intent of sinking the ship off the gulf coast near Destin to become the world’s largest artificial reef.
“I learned more about her in those three hours I was down there with her than I had at any other given time. What really spoke volumes to me was we should never wait until somebody is gone. We never should do that,” Sasser added.
As for applicants so far, Sasser said the city has had a couple people call asking if anyone had submitted a letter yet, but nobody has actually submitted one.
Though there is compensation for those serving on the council, Sasser said it was “not even enough to buy a couple cups of coffee,” but he still thanked anyone who applied.
“I’ve said this so many times: I feel like the backbone of our country is small communities like this,” Sasser added.
The Mossyrock City Council meets on the third Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. inside the Mossyrock Community Center, located at 219 E. State St. in Mossyrock.
For more information on the council and its duties, visit the City of Mossyrock’s website at https://www.cityofmossyrock.com/city-hall/.
