Former mayor Wendy Van Orman fills opening on Liberty Lake City Council

Residents of Liberty Lake are now seeing a familiar face back on the City Council – former councilwoman and former mayor Wendy Van Orman.

Van Orman was selected to fill the vacant Position 7 after November’s election failed to fill the seat. Incumbent Holly Woodruff was the only person on the ballot, but she moved to North Carolina in July, too late to take her name off the ballot and too late for anyone else to file to run.

When Woodruff resigned, Danetta “D.G.” Garcia was appointed to fill her seat until the end of the year and ran a write-in campaign for the November election. Woodruff received 58% of the vote and Garcia received 42% . With the seat again vacant, the council announced it was taking applications to fill the position.

Van Orman said she had been encouraged to file for the vacant seat last summer, but declined. “I said no, there’s lots of good candidates out there and there was,” she said.

Van Orman was involved in the incorporation of the city and served on the City Council for six years before being elected mayor for a four-year term from 2007 to 2011.

After the November election, Van Orman said Mayor Cris Kaminskas and Councilman Mike Kennedy encouraged her again to apply for the vacant seat, pointing out that the city no longer had anyone with long term experience. “I just mulled through it and it made sense,” she said. “I always figured I’d get back to it, it just took longer than I thought. It’s almost 10 years to the day.”

Van Orman said she was a little surprised to be appointed to the position because of the other applicants, including Garcia. She said Garcia had done a good job in the role. “I didn’t think I was going to get it,” she said.

But Garcia said she knew once she saw Van Orman’s name on the list of applicants that Van Orman would get the position. “I fully expected the outcome to be as it happened,” Garcia said. “She did have, indeed, the experience that warranted her being selected. I believe they made the right decision.”

Garcia said she enjoyed the time she spent on the council last year. “I looked at it as an experience I knew I was capable of handling,” she said. “I think it was a good fit and I accomplished a lot.”

Van Orman attended her first meeting last week, where she mostly listened. “Sometimes it’s better to listen rather than talk,” she said. “I’m feeling a little bit rusty.”

She was nominated for the role of mayor pro tem, the person who fills in when the mayor is unavailable, but she declined to be considered. “It was my very first time being back,” she said.

Van Orman also said that she didn’t want there to be any confusion about her role as a council member. “I don’t want people thinking I’m still mayor, because I’m not,” she said. “We have Cris Kaminskas.”

Van Orman describes herself as fiscally conservative and said she wants to make sure the city continues to make good budget decisions. The council recently learned that the $8.4 million it allocated for improvements at Trailhead Golf Course will only be enough for a remodel of the current facility, not new construction and additional amenities as the community and the council wanted. Van Orman said she wants to make sure the city doesn’t spend too much on the project as the council considers what to do next.

There are other changes she wants to suggest as well. “I am looking forward to righting some of the wrongs,” she said. “I am going to be aiming for the utility tax. That was supposed to be temporary.”

The utility tax was implemented in 2011, while Van Orman was mayor, to help deal with a budget shortfall. Van Orman argues that if the city is doing well financially, the utility tax should be eliminated.

She was appointed to finish a two-year term and Van Orman said people she’s spoken to have been supportive of her return. “When there is an election, I plan on putting my hat in the ring, if the community will have me,” she said.

Nina Culver can be reached at nculver47@gmail.com.