Newbie revolt fizzles

As a revolt it wasn’t much, but the new members of the Lacey City Council put the council on notice that they weren’t going to go along with the status quo.

The first order of business at the Lacey City Council meeting on Thursday was the selection of a new mayor.  Newcomers Cynthia Pratt, Andy Ryder and Ron Lawson joined with old-timers Virgil Clarkson, Mary Dean and Jason Hearn in selecting Tom Nelson to represent the council as mayor.

The  mini-revolt started in the selection for deputy mayor, when Dean nominated Clarkson for deputy mayor and Pratt nominated Ryder for the same position.

Mayor Nelson called for a vote on Clarkson and all the old-timers cast their vote for Clarkson giving him four votes and the deputy mayor’s job.   In his exuberance at Clarkson’s four votes, Nelson never called for a vote on Ryder’s nomination and the newbies didn’t get a chance to cast their votes for anyone.

It was obvious that serving on the Lacey City Council was going to be a long learning curve for the newbies, who peppered staff with questions on two planning issues, both of which has already had a public hearing and been approved by the planning commisson.

And, the task of integrating the newbies doesn’t get any easier.  Next week the council will have a work session on appointments to the city committees as well as to the various  regional boards and commissions.