Video courtesy of Nancy Kusky of Goldendale TV. Please subscribe to her YouTube Channel.
Last night’s Goldendale City Council meeting was one of transition. It was the first meeting for Sandy Wells as Clerk-Treasurer and the first for Pat Munyan as City Administrator, replacing longtime employees Connie Byers and Larry Bellamy.
Sandy, who has worked for the city already for 12 years, says her promotion involved a new responsibility:
“Well, just now I’m doing payroll, which before I did not.”
And she had praise for Pat Munyan as the new city administrator:
“He’s doing great. Yep, he’s done very well…good transition.”
And Munyan himself said things were going smoothly:
“It’s exciting, and I’m looking forward to working as city administrator for Goldendale. And there’s a lot of nice projects going on – very fulfilling projects, not only for the community but for any city administrator to work on and try to accomplish those goals and objectives.”
The main item on the agenda was a quarterly report from Nicole Lundin of the Chamber of Commerce, who reminded councilors that it had been a very busy season with the Oregon Trail Rally, Community Days plus the sesquicentennial of the founding of the city, and an event at the Observatory.
Councilors also approved a request by the committee organizing the annual rock crawl to bring their machines into downtown this Friday night. Police Chief Jay Hunziker said he approved them caravanning from the rock crawl site as long as they stayed behind a pilot car coming and going, since they are not equipped as street legal vehicles.
But the star of the show was 7-year-old Emily Bartholomew, who gaveled the meeting open and led the flag salute. She was the winner of the kids historical scavenger hunt at Community Days, with the prize being mayor for a day. When she was asked after winning what she wanted to do, and she replied “Everything!”
That included a ride on the city fire truck with police escort, priding over the first part of the council meeting, and even paying a visit to the water treatment plant. Everyone was charmed, and suggested that she was a natural, and might have a real career in government.