SOAP LAKE — In the closing comments of the Aug. 21 Soap Lake City Council Meeting, Council Member Leslie Taylor resigned from the council. Taylor’s term was set to expire in 2027. 

“I’ve served my community, and I am proud to be a part of this municipal government and with mixed emotions, I am taking this opportunity to resign from my position on the city council,” Taylor said during the meeting. “I will watch carefully as the city is guided through our challenges and I will cheer those accomplishments from the seats on the other side of the table.”  

After Taylor made the announcement, Mayor Pro Tempore Peter Sharp thanked her for her service to the city. 

“We thank you for your dedication to the city and we know how much hard work you put into it. You put all of your heart into it,” Sharp said. “If there is anything that we can do in the future to help you out, recognize you, the city is in debt. We do appreciate it.”  

During the special meeting last week Aug. 13, Taylor stepped down from the mayor pro tempore position, which she’d held for the last two and half years, saying she had spent too much time working. Sharp was voted in by the council to fill the mayor pro tempore position.  

As mayor pro tem, Sharp is serving as the interim mayor after former Mayor Allen DuPuy resigned Aug. 14. 

After Sharp’s comments, council members John Carlson, Kaylee Bryson and Judith Gorman also thanked Taylor for her commitments to the council during her term.  

“I have been working a good number of hours since October, and it's time for me to take care of other things,” Taylor said after the meeting. “I am retiring again; that is what I am doing, and I am glad that we have got people who are very passionate about doing the right things and I hope it all comes together.”  

Taylor said although she is resigning from the Soap Lake City Council she will still be at the meetings and supporting her former colleagues.  

"It’s definitely a group effort, and I am not going anywhere. I will be watching,” Taylor said. “I believe that Soap Lake is on the brink of very positive things, and I am glad that I live here and I am glad I had the opportunity to be a part of this, and I will always be a Soap Lake promoter.”