Following their first regular meeting on July 13, members of the Winlock City Council convened twice last week, on July 21 and 23, for a pair of special meetings ahead of their next regular meeting on July 27.
The July 21 meeting was held for the council to officially confirm the hiring of a new treasurer for the South Lewis County community. Winlock has been without a treasurer since Jill Davis, the previous treasurer, resigned back in March.
Following candidate interviews held last week by the council, Winlock Mayor Victoria Marincin announced the candidate they had settled on was Michelle Francis.
“She was approachable and I felt like she was a people-person,” Winlock City Councilor Chuck Camps said. “I think that’s what’s needed in there (the treasurer’s office). She stated that she took corrections pretty well, and change as well, identifying that we do have change, you know, with mayors or council members, stuff like that. It wouldn’t affect the way that she did her job.”
Marincin added with Francis’ 25 years of experience already working for the state of Washington, that she liked the candidate, too, but still wanted to hold off on hiring her full time. Instead, Marincin proposed the council approve hiring Francis first as a part-time employee and giving Marincin the authority to bring Francis on as a full-time employee when Francis had completed her training and settled in as the new treasurer.
“I wanted full-time anyway, so, but I like the (idea of) start her out half-time. You got the training done and you’re good to go. Here’s some more,” Winlock City Councilor Jess Bowers said.
“I feel a lot of wasted time can happen if you go full-time right away,” Marincin added.
Marincin explained this would eliminate the need for the council to once again reconfirm Francis to the position for the full-time switch. Ultimately the council voted unanimously, with Councilor Jodie Curtis not present, to hire Francis as the part-time treasurer while giving Marincin the authority to bring Francis on full-time when ready.
“I just want to say thank you to everybody. It’s been a pleasure, great process going forward,” Francis said following her confirmation. “I look forward to working with everybody. Come in my office, it’s an open door.”
As for the July 23 special meeting, it was meant to facilitate a council executive session to consider the proposed purchase of property for public purposes, and authorize Marincin to make an offer on the property.
However, with only Winlock City Councilors Alishia Hornburg and Bowers present, there was no quorum and the meeting could not be called to order. Both Camps and Curtis were absent — and Council position 4 is still vacant after Jeramy Allman was removed by the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners and Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office after they deemed him ineligible to hold the seat earlier in July as previously reported by The Chronicle.
Marincin stated the executive session would be added to the council’s agenda for its next regular meeting, starting at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 27, at Winlock City Hall, located at 323 NE First St. in downtown Winlock.
For those who can’t make it in person, Zoom links to attend council meetings can be found on the meeting agendas available on the city’s website at https://www.cityofwinlock.com/AgendaCenter/City-Council-2.
Meeting recordings can be found by searching for the “City of Winlock” on AVCapture’s website at https://media.avcaptureall.cloud/#, or by visiting the citizen-run @Videos4archive account on YouTube.
