CP council will pick a new member
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, January 25th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
COLLEGE PLACE – The College Place City Council meets virtually tonight (Tuesday) at 7 and is expected to appoint an applicant to the council position 1 seat. Two people, Paul Jessup, and Nadine Stecklein have applied for the position.
Jessup is a teacher at College Place High School and Stecklein is director of student life at Walla Walla Community College. The council will interview both candidates, then adjourn to executive session to evaluate their qualifications. The council is then expected to reconvene and announce the person selected.
Also on the agenda is a resolution approving the city’s participation pertaining to a federal Department of Justice grant to establish a regional drug task force. A total of $80,000 will be reimbursed by the task force grant. The balance of $32,500 will come out of the current expense police budget for 2022.
The city of Walla Walla, serving as the administrative agency, applied for and received a federal Department of Justice grant in the amount of $444,000 to form, train, equip and support a drug and gang task force for Walla Walla and Columbia counties. The participating agencies are the Walla Walla Police Department, College Place Police Department, Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office, and Washington State Department of Corrections.
The College Place proposal would fund the salary of a full-time law enforcement officer dedicated to the task force; however, the grant does not cover any initial training and education, standard equipment, or benefits. It would be a newly-created position in the police department. Any assets seized by the task force or because of task force activity would be held in a fund to financially support future work. The grant requires detailed reporting, which should provide information about the task force’s effectiveness.
The council is also expected to approve updating the salary ordinance. Each year in January the salary ordinance is updated to reflect salary changes approved in the budget.
The meeting may be viewed on the city’s YouTube channel or via Zoom. The meeting ID number is 814 1631 1594.
