Lester appointed as new member for Manson Community Council

MANSON – Manson resident Gordon Lester was unanimously voted into the Manson Community Council by the rest of the members on April 16 after being interviewed by them.

Lester became a full-time resident of Manson in 1951 and he is a Manson High School graduate. “If contaminated soil is a problem, we have to solve it,” answered Lester to council member Kari Sorensen’s question during his interview. Lester takes the open council seat Chris Willoughby leaves behind after presenting his resignation from the council in March.

Manson Park and Recreation Director Robin Pittman was invited in by the council to give updates from the parks department. Pittman gave a quick overview of the Singleton playground project, Leffler Field acquisition and the recent Manson Bay swim area renovation. Pittman also took the time to thank the community council for its support to the parks department. “The Park’s very lucky to have you and your enthusiasm,” said council member Kathy Blum. “Thank you and please keep up the good work,” Blum added.

Cheryl Koenig addressed her concerns with the Green Ave./ Wapato Way intersection in Manson during the public comment portion of the meeting. Koenig mentioned that she witnessed several accidents in the edge of happening due to the poor vision vehicles have of pedestrians in the area. She also mentioned that from her perspective the speed of 25 miles per hour seems a little fast for the downtown area. The council had a brief discussion on a way to help solve this problem, which has been addressed in the past to the county. This time around Blum, suggested asking the county to install and test a temporary four-way stop sign in such intersection. Another community member suggested asking the county to simply conduct a traffic study in the area which will help to find a solution to the problem.

Robin Werner had a few comments for the council regarding a pesticide drift alert she recently received from the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA). The email she received contains ways to prevent exposure incidents and ensure pesticides do not drift beyond the intended treatment area. She read off an email from the AGR Pesticide News that states, “the Worker Protection Standard now requires an airblast applicator to suspend the application if anyone (other than a properly trained and equipped handler) enters a 100-foot circle around the sprayer.” Her concern in general with this comes from having tourist accommodations and commercial business in the agriculture area. “Commercial activity in an agriculture area of any sort is making farming very difficult and we are not supposed to be doing that,” said Werner.

Willoughby thanked them for their public comment and moved on to other agenda items.

A Special Meeting on April 24, will be held by the community council to accept the resignation of Sarah Cushing as a member of the council. The meeting will begin at 3:30 p.m. During the meeting Lester be sworn into council and proposed P2019-004 VIRIDIAN will be discussed.

On May 21, the Manson Community Council will meet for a regular board meeting starting at 6 p.m.