PHOTO BY JENNIFER COLTON
Roak TenEyck is the newest member of the Umatilla City Council.
On Tuesday night, the Umatilla City Council interviewed three candidates for the position: TenEyck, Linda Schutt and Donald Hewitt. One candidate, Boyd Sharp, was unable to attend the meeting and submitted a letter in writing.
Council members voted by ballot on first- and second-choice candidates for the spot. TenEyck came out on top with three of the five first-choice votes.
TenEyck has lived in Umatilla for 24 years and is a local business owner as well as a member of the Umatilla Chamber of Commerce Board, the Parks & Recreation Committee and the Umatilla Yacht Club. He is also the founder of Friends of the Umatilla Marina & RV Park.
“We had four great candidates, any one of whom would have been great to have,” Councilman Lyle Smith said.
After the vote, TenEyck immediately took the oath of office and took his place on the council. He replaces Steve Johnson in council position 6, and TenEyck’s appointment will last until the end of December 2014. The seat will go before voters in November 2014, and a council member will be elected to fill the remainder of the term, which expires in 2016. TenEyck is eligible to run for election to retain the position.
“I’m just happy to be here,” TenEyck said Tuesday.
During the meeting, the council also appointed Judy Simmons to the Code Improvement Board; Craig Simson to the Planning Commission; and Tina Ridings to the Parks & Rec Committee.
In other business, the council:
• Authorized an Assignment of Lease for management of the Umatilla Marina & RV Park. With that agreement, the council also accepted a contract agreement with CRIS Inc., for management of the sit and approved three resolutions appropriating funds and adopting a supplemental budget to allow for operations of the facility. The city will take over options from the Port of Umatilla on Sept. 12.
• Discussed safety concerns on Powerline Road, especially involving pedestrians.
• Approved a $500 donation for Salmon Walk 2013.
• Discussed correspondence from Melissa Martinez regarding conditional use permits and the former Java Junkies building on Sixth Street.
• Agreed to not fly flags at half-mast until the flag poles at City Hall could be relocated. Flags flown at half-mast currently strike Umatilla City Hall, fouling the flags.
“We are going to look at long-term repositioning the flag poles so we can properly and respectfully display flags at half-staff,” Umatilla City Manager Bob Ward said.
