SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — Following months of repairs, Spokane Valley City Hall is no longer sinking. Council members were finally able to hold a meeting, as two new council members were sworn in Tuesday night. Their first order of business: selecting a new mayor and deputy mayor for the city of Spokane Valley.
Raising their right hands, Jessica Yaeger and Al Merkel were both sworn in as Spokane Valley's newest city council members. Tim Hattenberg, who won re-election, was also part of the ceremony ahead of Tuesday's meeting. He was later selected to become deputy mayor for the next two years.
"We have a couple of new ones who I think it will take a little while to learn, it takes everybody a few months to figure it out. I think it will be great once we all get settled in," said Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley.
Haley received the council's majority vote and will serve another two years as mayor. Merkel and councilman Ben Wick both nominated and voted for themselves.
"I'm really happy with the support," Haley said. "I think that we work really well together and I think that had some bearing had on the outcome. Yeah, I'm excited to see what the next couple of years will be like."
"I think public safety is going to be a big priority for us, I think that's a priority, hopefully, for the entire community," Haley said.
Council members have been meeting inside Center Place Event Center since April. On Tuesday, they returned to their repaired council chambers.
"I felt like I was in a gym, to be honest with you, when we were at Center Place," Haley said. "This is great. I'm so happy to be back and I'm happy that it's not sinking anymore, right?"
City hall repairs could top an estimated $5 million. Construction is expected to wrap up by the end of January.
"They paid for the building to be built a certain way and it clearly wasn't, so yeah, I don't think tax payers should be on the hook for that at all," Haley said.
The city has taken Meridian Construction to court. They are the company that built the new city hall building back in 2017. That trial is scheduled to begin in August.
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