Kennewick City Councilmember Jason McShane, appointed on Dec. 15 to replace Mayor Bill McKay, explained in a telephone interview with the Observer that a family commitment prevented him from attending the Feb. 6 executive session to discuss the qualification of applicants for city manager.
The council began the process of picking a city manager after Marie Mosley retired at the end of 2023. Mosley had been city manager for 13 years.
The Feb. 6 meeting was the fourth general meeting of the city council since McShane was sworn in on Dec. 19. He was chosen from 19 applicants for the position left open when McKay resigned after a scandal involving his “investigation” of massage parlors.
In a video of the regular Feb. 6 Tuesday night council meeting all councilmembers were seated when the session began at 6:30 pm. Mayor Gret’l Crawford announced that the private, executive session would begin at 7:19 pm. Later she announced that it had ended at 9:47 pm.
“Councilmember McShane left the meeting at 7:20 pm and did not return,” according to a timeline of the session written by Kennewick City Clerk Krystal Townsend and sent to the Observer by Acting City Manager Lisa Beaton in response to question about the executive session extensions.
The Tri-City Herald reported on March 5, that the council had picked four finalists to interview on March 8 for the city manager position with a salary range of $180,000 to $234,000.
McShane attended the executive session at the March 6 special city council meeting to consider the qualifications of applicants for city manager which began at 6:30 pm and ended at 8:25 pm and also the March 8, 8:03 am to 2:30 pm executive session interviews of the four finalists for the job.
He told the Observer, “Picking a city manager is one of the most important jobs of the city council.”