Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
New mayor discusses views for city
HARRINGTON—Better communication between the city and its citizens, improved infrastructure and “prosperous” conditions for new and current businesses are among the priorities the city’s new Mayor is stressing.
Joe Armand, 58, took office Jan. 1 from the retiring Jesse Silhan. He moved from City Council into the role for a 4-year elected term after running unopposed in the 2023 election cycle.
In an annual meeting with The Record-Times, Armand said many of the changes he hopes to see as Mayor won’t be unexpected to citizens.
“I’m committed to more open communication with the community,” Armand said. “It should be easier for them to know what’s going on the city.”
Armand takes office of Mayor in a city facing personnel issues, like most small cities and towns. The city currently has just one part-time public works employee who is under 18 years old, with no one to run that department after Troy Crawford departed in Dec. 2023. And that department also deals with code enforcement, which is an issue Armand said he hears about from citizens frequently.
“I will say, it’s not hitting deaf ears,” Armand said.
However, he said, the cost of writing and enforcing citations usually costs the city more in legal fees and other potential associated costs is often higher than the citation itself, creating often complicated decisions for the city.
“It’s an extremely expensive proposition,” Armand said.
Armand also said he hopes to help address the facts around the city’s garbage service.
“We’re just transferring the billing to Sunshine (Disposal),” he said. “They’re better suited to handle the billing…we’ve just been managing it ourselves.”
“The rates were going to go up regardless of if Sunshine was in charge or the city was in charge.”
Armand said the recently adopted 2024 budget, which has some funds facing deficits, will be amended.
“Like any small town, doing city budgets is a mindset,” he said. “We’ll readdress some of those things…the intent is to continue adding to reserve funds. We’ll probably address that in the first quarter.”
Armand assuming the mayor’s role left a vacancy on City Council. He said three candidates were interested in filling the position and were set to interview Wednesday, Jan. 10 in a meeting that occurred after the newspaper went to press.
More coverage of the vacancy and Council’s eventual appointment to fill it will be in future issues.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
Reader Comments(0)