Members of the Winlock City Council convened for their second-to-last regular meeting of the year on Monday, Dec. 8, and approved a resolution creating a new city administrator position. Additionally, councilors passed a resolution approving Winlock’s 2026 budget.
Councilors also approved the purchase of a new 2024 Ford Explorer patrol vehicle for the Winlock Police Department.
Both resolutions concerning the budget and city administrator position were approved unanimously.
This came after they were both tabled during the council’s Nov. 24 meeting following public outcry alleging outgoing Winlock Mayor Brandon Svenson wanted to create the city administrator position for himself as a way to remain involved in the city government.
Svenson denied those claims on the record and stated he would only apply for the position if the new incoming council and Winlock Mayor-elect Victoria Marincin wanted him working in it.
While the council’s chambers were once again packed to capacity with Winlock residents, the mood in Winlock City Hall was somewhat less contentious than it was on Nov. 24.
The move to create the new city administrator position was spurred on by a desire among some city staff to better prepare Winlock for future growth as with the annexation of its urban growth area in 2024, Winlock is now the third largest city in Lewis County.
According to Winlock City Councilor Jeramy Allman, city staff are preparing to transition the city’s government system to a seven-person council with an appointed mayor like in both Centralia and Chehalis.
Currently, the council has five members, with an elected mayor who serves as the council’s administrator and does not vote on any motions or resolutions.
Once Winlock transitions to a seven-person council with an appointed mayor who will be able to vote, the mayor’s administrative duties will be transferred to the newly created city administrator.
According to Winlock City Attorney Jim Buzzard, there will be three ways the city administrator can be removed from office.
First, the city administrator can be removed without cause by the mayor subject to council approval by at least a 4-1 vote, or they can be removed with cause by the mayor without any action needed by the council.
“Without the consent of the mayor, the city council may remove the city administrator with a unanimous vote,” Buzzard said.
Before approving the resolution, the council amended it to change a “loophole” that would have allowed the mayor pro-tem to fire the city administrator with a simple 3-2 majority vote on the council in the event the mayor resigned.
“It creates a situation where somebody that’s not even elected to be mayor in the first place can step in and make a drastic change to city government,” Buzzard added.
The amendment changed the resolution to require the mayor pro-tem to get the same 4-1 or unanimous vote needed by the mayor to fire the city administrator.
Should the City of Winlock find itself in a position where both the mayor and mayor pro-tem resign, the city administrator will still have to answer to the city council and will not have any voting authority.
As for the purchase of the 2024 Ford Explorer for the Winlock Police Department, Winlock Police Chief Stephen Valentine stated the vehicle was fully equipped and ready for service, minus a speed radar system and the police department’s own decals and stickers.
The vehicle itself is actually coming from a dealership in Arizona.
“Peoria Ford does not charge tax to us, so we will pay them and when we license it in Lewis County we will pay the Lewis County tax rate on it,” Valentine said.
Currently, the Winlock Police Department uses old surplus Washington State Patrol (WSP) vehicles, which WSP decommissioned.
WSP used to take vehicles out of service after somewhere around 120,000 miles, letting municipal police departments like Winlock’s then purchase the used vehicles for less than $10,000.
“Since then, state patrol and pretty much every other department has started running these patrol vehicles, just like we did, until the wheels fall off,” Svenson said. “... They’re just not available anymore.”
While not technically new, the vehicle being purchased from Peoria Ford was actually the dealership’s demonstration vehicle and never saw service with a police department.
“If somebody’s in a pinch like we are, they’ll sell their demo and just build another one,” Valentine added.
Additionally, Valentine stated it comes with a full manufacturer’s warranty. The cost of the new patrol vehicle is $71,540.83.
Svenson also said despite the steep purchase price, having a newer dependable vehicle will save the department thousands in maintenance costs its older vehicles keep accruing.
“We just surplused one (vehicle), for the cause of what would have been a $10,000 to $15,000 rebuild of it. I don’t see the reason to put $10,000 to $15,000 into a car that’s got 160,000 miles on it. My truck just came out of the shop with a $5,000 bill. The Toledo (Dodge) Charger, it just went in for a $700 brake job,” Valentine said. “We’re spending a considerable amount on upkeep of older vehicles, hoping to try to mitigate some of that with newer vehicles.”
According to Valentine, the only operational vehicles the Winlock Police Department has currently is his patrol truck and two surplus Dodge Chargers from the Toledo Police Department, on top of one old Ford Taurus.
Councilors also floated the idea to surplus the 2024 Ford patrol vehicle once it got around 60,000 miles, selling it and using the funds to purchase a newer replacement — as is done regularly in the neighboring City of Napavine’s police department.
