City Council Faces Big Meeting Tuesday

The Yakima City Council will welcome their newest member Tuesday at City Hall but immediately put him to work on some heavy issues.

Thomas Dittmar will be sworn in as the District 2 city council member as the first order of business. That will be immediately followed by the selection of a new mayor.

In the previous meeting, Incumbent mayor Micah Cawley and fellow councilman Rick Ensey each garnered three votes to become mayor. The council then decided to postpone the election of a mayor until a seventh council member could be found. Assistant Mayor Kathy Coffey has been filling the ceremonial role for the past two weeks.

After deciding on a mayor, the council will tackle, among other things, the recommendation from the Yakima Planning Commission to place an outright ban on marijuana sales in the city of Yakima. The ban would prohibit production, processing and selling marijuana within the city limits. It would not impact the possession or use parts of the new state law.

The council meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m.