Ritzville mayor to step down

RITZVILLE - Less than a half -year into his second term, Mayor Gary Cook has decided to resign. His last day will be March 31.

Mayor Pro Tem pore Dennis Chamberlain will assume mayoral duties on a temporary basis beginning April 1.

Under city statutes, the council will then have 90 days to assign someone to finish out the first two years of the term.

Then, in 2021, a new mayor will be elected to serve the final two years.

This will allow a new four-year term to start in 2023 as scheduled.

Cook said the decision was made quickly.

He and his wife have been preparing their Ritzville house to sell, he said.

"We've been in the house for almost 20 years," Cook said. "We bought it knowing it needed updating and we have been remodeling, off and on, ever since."

Cook and his wife own land north of Reardan. He said the plan is to sell the Ritzville house and use the money to build a house there.

Last weekend, they realized they were a lot closer to being able to do this than they thought, he said.

"All things equal, if I wasn't going to move, I would want to be here for four years," Cook said. "Last weekend, it really fell into our lap with getting offers.

"It snapped into focus ... I looked at it and said, 'We are really close.'"

Cook said he knew there was a strong possibility of not finishing his second term when he ran for re-election, but didn't think he would be leaving after just four months.

"I thought one to two years," Cook said.

Cook says his focus now is on doing his job until his final day on March 31.

"I want to get things closed out," Cook said. "I don't want to leave a bunch of fires."

Cook said his main focus will be on the almost $9 million in grants and loans the city received last year for infrastructure. He also wants to get an ad-hoc committee set up to look into options on the train quiet zone issue.

Cook said his resignation and move will allow him to more thoroughly enjoy retirement.

"I've been retired for over three years, but you don't notice that when you're working as the mayor," Cook said.

Cook said helping him to make his decision was the strength of the staff at city hall.

"All of the department heads are just rock solid," Cook said. "These are good solid people who know their jobs. I have been trying to make myself expendable and they have helped me do that."

Chamberlain said while he is prepared to take over the job for up to 90 days, he is undecided on whether or not he will seek appointment to the position past then. He hasn't, however, ruled that out.

"I haven't decided," Chamberlain said. "It's something I'm considering. There's also another person on the council who could decide to do that, or the council could decide on someone from the outside."

Chamberlain said that while there is a lot going on that the mayor and council have to stay on top of, he thinks the city is ready to handle the changes.

"I think the mayor is working hard to make sure that the transition is smooth," Chamberlain said. "He is getting things lined up. We have a lot of grants and loans coming in, so it's going to get complex and it's going to get hard, but we have some people on council who are experts at this stuff and know what they're doing."