Royal City OKs funds for police car, park survey
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 1 month AGO
From left: Royal City City Council members Michael Christensen, Mayor Kent Andersen, Hector Rodriguez and Tiffany Workinger discuss the purchase of a new police vehicle Tuesday.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | July 20, 2022 4:02 PM
ROYAL CITY — The Royal City City Council Tuesday evening considered buying a patrol car from the Soap Lake Police Department to fill a need identified by Royal City Police Chief Rey Rodriguez but decided against it, instead budgeting available money for a vehicle already on order. Another vehicle is sorely needed, said Royal City Police Chief Rey Rodriguez.
“Right now we only have three vehicles,” Rodriguez said. “And we have four of us who are working right now. We have Hannah (Soelter), who just started yesterday in Moses Lake, she's taking her personal car now. We reimburse her for her mileage, obviously … So, if we don't get at least a temporary one, we're going to be shuffling vehicles, and right now we have take-home vehicles because when we go out on calls, we've been taking our stuff out, putting the other stuff in.”
The police department currently has a Ford Explorer on order from the state, explained City Finance Director Shilo Christensen in an interview later. The vehicle was previously expected to be available in July, but its current estimated availability date is September, and even that is uncertain.
In the meeting, Christensen pointed out that the city has funds from a federal program that could be used to purchase the vehicle outright. The money would come from the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill passed by Congress last year.
“We received the COVID money from the federal government,” Christensen said. “Right now we have $624,000 that's been allocated to us … Those funds could be used for police vehicles. So this vehicle that we're purchasing, what do you think about instead of using general funds, which we can use on anything anyway, we can use these COVID funds that we have to use? We have to commit these COVID funds by 2024, or else we lose them. Personally, as a finance person, if I have use-it-or-lose-it money or money I can spend on anything, I want to use the use-it-or-lose-it money first.”
The council ultimately voted to budget $65,000 from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds - also known as SLFRF - for the new vehicle.
The council also voted to allocate up to $7,000 to engineering firm Anderson Perry & Associates, based in Walla Walla, to survey the land east of the existing city park and determine exactly where the lines are between city-owned and privately-owned property, as a step in the process of expanding the park. The city has applied for two grants to help cover the cost of the expansion, but won’t find out until next June whether those grants are approved.
Joel Martin can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Quincy National Night Out scales down
QUINCY — Quincy’s National Night Out was more compact this year, which worked out well, said QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who’s in charge of event planning for the Quincy Police Department. “National Night Out is a big event, and the fact that we’re able to shrink it up is like a breath of fresh air,” Westby said. “If you're always doing the same thing, it's kind of nice to switch things up and see how it works.” National Night Out took place Thursday on the block of C Street next to the police station, a shift from previous years when it was held at Lauzier Park. The smaller space meant fewer emergency vehicles for children to explore, but it also meant less walking for attendees. Grant County Fire District 5 brought a fire truck, and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office had a patrol boat. Renew, the Grant County behavioral health agency, had a booth and so did Quincy Partnership for Youth. Veterans Operation Creation sang the national anthem, and the Quincy Animal Shelter brought kittens that piled over each other making friends with passersby. As before, the QPD served grilled hot dogs.
Quincy Police retirements leave big shoes to fill
QUINCY — There are some big shoes to fill at the Quincy Police Department. “We’re losing 48 years of experience between them,” Quincy Police Chief Ryan Green said at the retirement party for Capt. Jorge Trujillo and Det. Damon Powell Thursday. Trujillo, who grew up in Sunnyside, has been with QPD for 19 years, he said, coming on as a patrol officer fresh out of the military. From there he served as a field training officer, a detective and finally captain. “I consider him my left-hand man,” Green said. “He runs the operations side of the house … He knows the agency very well, and he knows the community.” Trujillo has some projects around the house to tackle now that he’s retired, he said.
Big fun on a small scale
Wheat Land Communities’ Fair opens Thursday
RITZVILLE — The Wheat Land Communities’ Fair isn’t as big or as flashy as some of the county fairs around central Washington, but the folks who keep it going like it just the way it is. “It’s somewhere you can go and get an old-time traditional feeling, and you’re comfortable letting your kids roam the grounds and experience all that it has to offer,” said Board Member Lori Williams. “It’s more of a feeling than (one) specific thing,” The fair starts Thursday in Ritzville and runs through Sunday. Starting Friday, the 56th Ritzville Rodeo will take place alongside the fair at the rodeo grounds. This year the entertainment budget was expanded, Williams said, to be able to offer more fun that’s covered by the cost of admission. For the kids, there’s face painting, balloon art, Lego crafts, races, contests and games. Children can also ride on a little train towed around the fairgrounds behind a tractor.