Ruona, Knox take Oath of Office

PRESCOTT — Mayor David Hovel presided last Tuesday over the Prescott City Council Organizational Meeting.

The first order of business for the annual business meeting was swearing in city council members. Incumbent at-large Council Member Bailey Ruona and new fifth and sixth ward Council Member Pat Knox took the oath of office at the in-person meeting.

Prescott’s meetings have moved to the Zoom format over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hovel said he’d like to get the council back in chambers for their meetings, but for the time being, they’ll remain virtual as vaccinations catch up in Pierce County.

“We need to talk a little bit about how we want to handle meetings. Do we want to start back in-person? Do we still want to do Zoom? What do we want to do?” asked City Administrator Jayne Brand, who explained that there is a mask mandate in place until June 4. If that isn’t extended, the city will need to amend an ordinance to continue meeting virtually.

“I’m for leaving it as is for now and then if it becomes a problem, we’ll deal with it,” said Ruona.

Of the virtual meetings, Council Member Tom Oss said, “I think at some point there’s going to be some legislation in Madison to keep doing it. At some point, we’re going to be told what to do, and that’s fine. For now, this works well.”

Brand mentioned that while the city has been holding closed sessions on Zoom, those meetings will have to be in-person in the future. Brand said she’d continue “attending” the virtual meetings from the council chambers if people come to meetings with comments or questions, but everyone else can be remote for now.

Hovel moved onto his annual appointments. Reappointed for another year were Cedar Corp. as city engineer, The Journal as official newspaper, Phil Helgeson as city attorney and various local banks as public depositories.

Rob Daugherty was re-elected council president to serve in the mayor’s absence. New plan commission appointments were Steve Most and Joshua Gergen, who decided against running for re-election to the city council this spring; Dallas Eggers to the police commission and Dorothy Morris to the Prescott Housing Authority.

Of Gergen’s appointment, Hovel commented, “He said if I couldn’t find anyone else, he’d do it.”

Hovel presented his council committees and their chairs. Finance is chaired by the mayor. The rest are as follows:

•Public works – Daugherty.

•Health and Safety – Knox.

•Ordinance – Dar Hintz.

•Parks and Public Property – Ruona.

•Personnel – Maureen Otwell.

•License – Oss.

•Board of Review – Hovel.

The Board of Review is held during the summer and people can question their property assessments. In years when property is reassessed, sessions were known to go into the next day. Usually, it’s just routine questions. Brand also serves on it, and Ruona volunteered. Hovel joked that since Hintz and Otwell weren’t at the meeting, he appointed them as well.

“The mayor buys us pizza,” said Brand of the July 1 meeting and July 22 meetings.

Photo by John McLoone