Council holds public hearing on budget

Public Hearing

Harrington – The Harrington City Council held a public hearing on the 2020 Budget Amendment on Jan. 29 via Zoom. Peter Davenport, David Buddrius, Stephen Hardy and Justin Slack were in attendance, along with Janice Cepeda, clerk, and one acknowledged visitor. In a brief 16-minute meeting, including the opening and closing of the public hearing, voting on the amendment and voting to close the meeting, the Council made quick work of a long overdue task. Several minor changes were made on line items that did not alter the final figures, as the money was already in the budget. Davenport made several corrections, then made the motion to approve the amendment, Ordinance 505, with corrections, which passed. No one took advantage of the opportunity for public comment. Councilman Levi Schenk arrived after the vote was taken for the amendment, but he ably seconded the motion to adjourn which also passed.

Round about town

The wind damage that took its toll on the Harrington City Hall in early January became a problem when the loosened roof allowed the snow to find an easy entrance into the building. By Thursday, Jan. 28, the snow began melting and saturated a portion of the carpeting in the back room of the library. Employees moved things to safety and dried the surfaces of books, bound ledgers and desktops and then called for reinforcements by professionals. For days the back room had huge fans blowing. Details of the damage will likely be discussed at the next council meeting on Feb. 10. It was also reported that the roof of the Memorial Hall had leaked following the last storm. Members of the community noted that another of the streetlights on Third St. had been knocked out by accident near the Hotel Lincoln.

Researchers seeking answers

The Harrington librarian had a visit on Feb. 4, from Nancy Andes, currently of Moses Lake, who came to the area to continue her research of relatives buried in the Lamona Cemetery, the Finch family. The oldest of her ancestors buried at Lamona were Ruben Finch and his wife Mary Ann (great grandparents to Nancy). Ruben was born in 1821, a proud member of the Grand Army of the Republic (Ed.’s note: a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, Union Navy, Marines and the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War, founded in 1866 in Springfield, Ill.). He was stricken with pneumonia in 1903 and was buried at Lamona. He was said to have stood 6 ft. tall. His wife, the former Mary Ann Sprague, married Ruben in 1847 at Addison, Steuben Co., N.Y. They came to Lincoln Co., Wash. in about 1892 and filed for their homestead on Sept. 16, 1896. She died in Chelan and her remains were returned to Lamona to be buried beside her husband. Their children were Augustus, Rachel Ann, Charles Henry, Elva, Betsy and Cyrus William. August and Cyrus were buried at Lamona, as was at least one daughter of Cyrus Finch and his wife Lena in 1904.