Neal Olander to fill council position

The Liberty Lake City Council appointed Neal Olander Tuesday night to fill Dennis Paul’s vacant council position until November.

The council voted 4-2 to name Olander after interviewing four candidates for 15 minutes each at Tuesday’s meeting.

Following the interviews, the council adjourned for 45 minutes to discuss the candidates, then reconvened to vote.

Several council members appeared interested in Olander’s engineering background during his interview, including Wendy Van Orman.

“I think Neal’s going to be an awesome addition,” Van Orman said. “His engineering pretty much fit in with Dennis Paul’s. That’s what Dennis Paul had, that analytical view.”

Olander, 58, is an engineer for an electronic music company called Spectrasonics in Burbank, Calif., but lives in Liberty Lake with his wife, Lori, and 6-year-old daughter, Stella.

He will bring to the council years of experience with city developing. Olander has worked with the planning commission on urban growth issues.

“I plan on spending a lot of time talking with neighbors around the city, finding out what their issues are, what their concerns are and being an advocate for those,” Olander said.

Olander’s engineering career also involved budget management, something he feels will help him and the city as he takes over Paul’s seat.

“We’ve got a good community here. We need to keep it up and keep the ball rolling,” he said.

For now, Olander said he plans on running for office in November. He will be officially sworn in at the next council meeting May 15.