Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Longtime Mohler residents moving west
DAVENPORT-The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners will soon have a vacancy to fill. Commissioner Mark Stedman of District 1 announced this week that he is resigning at the end of 2022.
He and his wife, Sheryl, both 75, are moving to the Kalama area to be nearer to their four children and 10 grandchildren, most of whom live in the Portland and Olympia areas.
"There's a time in life that there's another chapter," Stedman said. "Sheryl and I are discovering that next chapter and trying to write it with our kids."
The move will take the Mohler residents out of Lincoln County, where they've lived for 24 years. Mark Stedman was first elected Commissioner in the 2012 general election. "That means moving out of a great community," Stedman said Tuesday with tears in his eyes. "We've been involved in a great church (and) the (Harrington) Opera House. We were only going to be here six or seven years, but here we are 24 years later."
The Stedmans made Harrington their local community in their time here. Mark Stedman was a school superintendent in Sprague for six years and in Harrington for another six years before being elected commissioner.
The couple was involved in Harrington Community Church and the Harrington Opera House Society. Sheryl Stedman worked at America West Bank in Davenport.
Stedman's departure will break up the commissioner trio of himself, Scott Hutsell and Rob Coffman for the first time in a decade.
"The teamwork you two have is amazing," Stedman told his fellow commissioners Tuesday after their regular meeting was recessed. "For the amount of money we have...it doesn't work this week in other counties."
Stedman said he isn't sure when his move west will happen, but his exit from office will happen at the end of the day Dec. 31.
Finding his replacement will be a similar process to that of finding an interim Sheriff that occurred in July upon Wade Magers' retirement.
The Lincoln County Republican Central Committee will take applications, conduct interviews and submit three finalists to the Commissioners, who will then make the final selection.
Unlike the Sheriff situation where Gabe Gants was sworn in at midnight after Magers retired, a replacement doesn't necessarily have to be appointed the minute Stedman is gone because the commissioners will still have a quorum with Hutsell and Coffman still around.
However, Stedman said he hopes he can help select his replacement. That replacement, who must be from District 1 (Harrington, Odessa and Sprague areas), must run for election next year to become an elected official and run again in 2024, when the term expires.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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