Sheriff Morrison lays out his vision for community service

CHELAN - At the February 28 Chelan City Council meeting, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison laid out his vision of community service. Elected in November of 2022, Morrison told Mayor Robert Goedde and the City Council that he eyed positive changes as he begins his term.
“We discussed throughout the campaign process areas where we can improve. We have identified them,” Morrison told the Council. “We structured our vision, our mission and our overall statement just to get more of a focus back to serving the community, which is what I aimed to do throughout the election process and now that it’s in place, I’m in that position, we want to get back to serving our communities and not ourselves.”
Morrison largely has administration in place. Dan Ozment will serve as Undersheriff while Ryan Moody is the new Chief of Special Operations.
Morrison is also bringing in Sergeant Rob Huddleston as the unofficial chief of Chelan. One of Huddleston’s responsibilities will be revitalizing the department’s marine program, which Morrison said has struggled in recent years. Last summer, only one marine patrol deputy supervised local waters and the department was unable to fully utilize him due to unforeseen circumstances. That will change this summer. Chelan County currently has two trained deputies for Marine Patrol with another in training. The trio of trained deputies will aim to keep both locals and tourists safe on both lakes and rivers.
Morrison mentioned that there will be an April 2 meeting to discuss some recent hazards on local waters, namely, the Wenatchee River.
“Under Sergeant Huddleston’s leadership, I believe the program will start heading in the right direction,” Morrison said. “If we can bring a little bit more order back to our waterways throughout the county, specifically lake Chelan, that’s what we’re aiming for.”
Next on the agenda was a presentation concerning the North Central Washington Economic Development District Supernova Business Lunch Competition. Alyce Brown, EDD executive director, gave an update on this community-based 11-week contest where budding entrepreneurs and new small businesses compete for $10,000 in grants. Applicants come from businesses looking to expand or start in the counties of Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Ferry, and the Colville Reservations.
The competition, which is in its fourth year, starts in February and goes until August. The EDD received 32 applications and three businesses from the Chelan/Manson area are vying for the funds.
When the program started in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected commerce of all kinds. Yet Brown mentioned that all the businesses are still open and some are even looking to expand. Over the past three years, the competition has helped open the doors to 17 small businesses and connected them with over $800,000 in grants.
“There is a demand. There is an interest to open small businesses. They’ve been all successful,” Brown said. “We’re making sure we’re connecting these small businesses with grant dollars so they’re not obligated to pay it back, setting them up for success.”
The third main item on the agenda was an update on the Seven Acres Foundation Community Center. Maribel Cruz, a member of the Seven Acres team, mentioned that phase one of the project has included the main building structure which includes an office wing and a six-lane pool. The cost of the first phase was just over $18 million. Cruz said that about 90 percent of that cost, roughly $16.2 million dollars, has come from generous donors. The project’s second phase costs around $4 million and includes finishing the parking lot, landscaping and finishing the gym wing.
After giving the update, Cruz revisited a request the EDD made to the City Council last July for funds that would pay for an outdoor play structure designed for children under eight. The playground, which has an estimated cost of $189,000, would be free to the public. While Mayor Goedde and the Council supported the playground project, they mentioned that they first needed to see if there were any surplus costs on the Anderson Road construction project. This endeavor is in cooperation with the Chelan Valley Housing Trust and will provide 45 homes for mixed income households. Goedde told Cruz that he hoped to have more information in the coming months in order to make a final decision.
Lasty, Deputy City Clerk Cailey Couch proposed that Goedde finalize and execute the DocuSign Services Agreement for Electronic Signatures. DocuSign is a program that allows organizations to manage electronic agreements. Couch mentioned that the city’s Technology Fund would cover the first-year cost of $2,760. The motion passed unanimously.