Lifelong Tri-Citian appointed to city council vacancy. There’s a new mayor pro tem, too
Melissa Blasdel, a lifelong Tri-City resident and hotelier whose family has deep ties to the area, was appointed Monday night to a vacancy on the Pasco City Council.
And Councilman Irving Brown Sr. also was appointed as the city’s new mayor pro tem.
Blasdel will serve through the end of 2025 and will represent Council District 6, a central Pasco district that stretches from east Pasco to Heritage Park and includes downtown.
She succeeds former Mayor Pro Tem Craig Maloney, who announced his resignation last month to focus on his career and small business.
Blasdel was publicly interviewed alongside five other candidates prior to Monday night’s regular council meeting.
The city council selected her in a unanimous vote. She took her oath of office and began serving immediately.
“Giving back to the community is important to me,” Blasdel wrote in her application.
“I want to be the solution to the problem. I want to be an advocate for the people. I want to make our community better.”
She cited crime and homelessness as community issues she hopes to tackle.
Blasdel has volunteered and served on the Pasco Chamber of Commerce board, Tri-Cities Water Follies and with the Tri-Cities Lodging Association, among other organizations.
She currently works as regional manager at Pasco Lodging Partners. In 2014, she opened the first My Place Hotel in the Pacific Northwest region.
“I have opened many My Place Hotels after making the Pasco hotel a complete success. I had the opportunity to travel with the My Place brand as a regional manager and manage five hotels at one time in Alaska and Nevada,” she wrote.
Blasdel and her family have deep roots in the Pasco community.
Her father, Dan Blasdel, served as county coroner. She and her siblings have lived in Pasco most of their lives. She grew up along Road 68 “back when grape fields filled the air.”
She graduated from Pasco High School in 1996.
This story was originally published October 2, 2023 at 9:30 PM.
