3 finalists for Richland City Council connected to Hanford or PNNL

Three people with ties to the Hanford nuclear site or Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are the finalists for an empty seat on the Richland City Council.

KaeRae Parnell, Gregery Levy and Damon Shayne Van Dyke were named as the possible replacements for Councilman Phil Lemley.

Lemley announced earlier this month that he planned to leave his spot on the council because he is moving back to Arkansas to be closer to his family.

The city received 12 applications including several from former city council hopefuls for the nonpartisan position.

The current council passed over the former candidates in favor of two newcomers to city government and a one former Richland code enforcement board member.

The finalists will be interviewed at 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, in the city council chambers at 625 Swift Blvd.

The person appointed will serve until November 2023, when they’ll have to run for election if they want to keep the seat.

The position pays $1,231 a month.

▪ Gregery Levy, a radiological controls training specialist at the 200 East Tank Farm at Hanford, recently finished seven years on the code enforcement board, which conducts hearings about violations of the city rules.

He told the council in a letter that he believes if people want a better city, they should invest effort in making it better.

“I truly believe I can fill the position in an exemplary manner representing a large percentage of the city population,” he said.

▪ KaeRae Parnell has spent many years working for subcontractors on Department of Energy projects including at the Hanford site. She is nearing retirement and wants to get involved with the community.

“I feel a successful retirement results in personal contributions to my local society, some travel and more time for a few hobbies,” she told the city council.

▪ Damon Shayne Van Dyke, is a deputy project manager at PNNL, operated by Battelle for the Department of Energy.

The council position would give him the opportunity to give back to the community, he wrote to the council.

“I want to work as part of the city council, work with the city administration and listen to our ... residents to collaboratively make the best decisions for Richland,” he said in his letter.

The other candidates who applied were Robert Scott Butner, Dusty Howard, Carl Sarrazolla, Donovan Williams, Chaune’ Fitzgerald, Kurt Maier, Ginger Wireman, Randy Slovic and Justin Raffa.