City Briefs

Apply for Shelton Police Citizens Academy

The Shelton Police Department is accepting applications for its Citizens Academy, an eight-week program highlighting the department’s community-oriented policing mission, partnerships with local agencies and a judicial overview.

Starting Feb. 15, classes will be hosted in person from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays in the Shelton Civic Center. The Citizens Academy will have a maximum of 30 people. City of Shelton residents and business owners will be given priority, followed by Mason County residents.

The goal of the Citizens Academy is to strengthen relationships with residents to co-produce solutions to community issues. Academy topics will include patrol work, investigations, designated crisis responders, internal affairs, recruiting and hiring, judicial process and coroner investigations.

Applications are available at http://www.sheltonwa.gov/CitizensAcademy. Completed applications can be emailed to Captain Daniel Patton at [email protected] or mailed to the Shelton Police Department at 525 West Cota St. or dropped off at the police lobby on the first floor of the Shelton Civic Center.

City buys water department truck

The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening gave final approval to buying a new three-quarter-ton 4-by-4truck for the city’s water department.

The council gave preliminary approval at its Jan. 16 meeting.

The budget request of $70,000 will be placed in the public works department water budget.

According to the city report, the new truck would replace a 2003 half-ton pickup. The department uses three half-ton, two-wheel drive pickups that average 19 years old. The department states that replacing these trucks over the next few years with new 4x4 vehicles will allow for easier mobility during inclement weather and increase vehicle safety and reliability.

Council members get committee, board assignments

Members of the Shelton City Council serve on committees and boards to represent the city and the city’s interests, and the council on Thursday evening made the assignments official.

Mayor Eric Onisko will represent the city on the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, the Mason Transit Authority Board and the Mason County Housing and Behavioral Health Advisory Board.

Deputy Mayor Joe Schmit will attend meetings of the Economic Development Council and the Mason County EMS and Trauma Council. Sharon Schirman will attend meetings of the Mason County Criminal Justice Working Team.

New members Tom Gilmore will join the MACECOM Legislative and Governing Board, Melissa Stearns will attend the Opioid Stakeholders meetings and the Law Enforcement Officers and Fire Fighters Board, and George Blush will sit on the Peninsula Regional Transportation Planning Organization.

Miguel Gutierrez will represent the city at meetings of Emergency Food and Shelter, the Mason County Board of Health and the Shelton Memorial Park Board.

Schirman, Gutierrez and Blush will be on the Council Subcommittee on Homeless Response. Schirman, Schmit and Gutierrez will be on the Council Sub-Committee on Finance/Budget. All seven will be on the Shelton Metropolitan Park District Board, which meets quarterly prior to Shelton City Council meetings.