Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
City to enter 2024 mayor-less
DAVENPORT — The city won’t have a mayor for at least the first 10 days of 2024. City council unanimously voted Wednesday, Dec. 27 to table a second tally for its mayoral selection until the first meeting of the New Year.
Two weeks ago, city council was split three votes apiece between incumbent Brad Sweet and current councilman Jonathan Chapman. That split vote pushed further discussion to the final meaning of 2023, which was Wednesday night.
After a roughly 40-minute executive session, councilman Lance Strite motioned to table another vote until the first meeting of 2024, noting that the city would have a new councilman by then.
Mike Wilkinson was sworn in after the meeting and will replace Chris Ruiz, who didn’t file for re-election and whose term expires after 2023.
Strite’s motion was approved unanimously by council.
Ironically, Chapman then joined Wilkinson, Patrick Katz, Heath Becker and Robert Jenkins in getting sworn into a new 4-year council term just after Wednesday’s meeting. If he is chosen by council as the next mayor, he would have to resign his council seat and the city would have a vacancy on council.
And if council picks Sweet, the 8-year incumbent will take over office after a 10-day break from his mayoral duties.
Council will have 90 days to decide on a mayor beginning Jan. 1. If council can’t reach a decision in that time, the mayoral appointment would move to the Lincoln County Commissioners.
The next city council meeting is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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