Deer Park is growing fast; the city government must tackle new challenges from having meetings during COVID, to being accessible to the public.

Municipal improvement projects and new homes are well underway this time of year.  The Sixth Street water reservoir, the Crawford Avenue/Colville Roundabout Project, forty new home permits approved and in process of being built, are all signs of a city growing.  Long before any of these projects became visible for the eyes to see, our local government had already budgeted, surveyed, studied, planned, recommended, and approved the requests which have led to the betterment of Deer Park.

Communicating With Your Council

Deer Park’s five City Councilmembers, the Mayor and other government managers meet twice a month to discuss the current state of the city and its ongoing projects, as well as future plans for positive economic and structural growth.  Due to COVID, recent meetings have taken place via phone conferencing.  As such, recent discussions at the August and September council meetings have addressed usage of current technology to enable a larger portion of the community to have direct contact with their councilmember.  More precisely, the subject of having direct email communication with one’s councilmember was brought onto the agenda. 

The idea was first introduced by Councilmember Richard Schut, while speaking about the uncertainty of when “in person” meetings will again occur.  He mentioned the idea of council members each having their own official computer and email address as well as establishing video conferencing, such as Zoom or Skype, for the council meetings.  Councilmember Caleb Stapp agreed that transitioning to this technology is a good idea for both city leadership and its residents, stating, “People need to interact as broadly as possible.”  The three remaining councilmembers, Mary Babb, Dee Cragun, and Ron Scholz, were not in favor of this idea, citing concerns over budget, bureaucratic rules, and access to technology for all residents; they voted down further discussion at this time.  Mayor Verzal said the matter will be discussed again in 2021.  

As it is right now, the public can contact the Mayor or City Council Members through City Hall in several ways:

• Phone: 509-276-8801, 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday-Friday
• Website: Cityofdeerparkwa.com  
  • Click on the “Comments/Questions” tab and complete the form there 
  • On the same tabbed page, click on the “Citizen Comment/Complaint Action Request Form”.  Confidentiality is respected.  
• Email: Mayor Verzal directly at [email protected]
• Print: complete and mail/bring the form to:
  • Deer Park City Hall, 316 East Crawford Avenue/P. O. Box F, Deer Park, 99006

All persons are always welcome to listen in on council meeting discussions at: 

• Time: 7:00pm 
• When: First and third Wednesday of the month
• Call: 1-669-224-3412 
• Use access code: 805-100-029#