Spokane city councilmembers have chosen Ryan Oelrich as their newest colleague.
Oelrich is the executive director of Priority Spokane, an organization says it works to “identify and address Spokane’s biggest problems.”
He was one of five applicants interviewed last week as a replacement for Lori Kinnear, who is now council president. She will serve until December and so will Oelrich.
“I think Ryan will do a really good job and I will welcome him wholeheartedly to the team. He’s got some really intense days in the next three months, so I hope he takes his vitamins, let’s just say that,” Kinnear said before the vote to appoint Oelrich.
The vote was five-to-one with Jonathan Bingle the lone no vote.
“Not any condemnation of Ryan,” he said. “I just think we had a couple of better options when we were looking at a three-month window of bringing in somebody with more experience when it came to the city and city budgets, the inner workings.”
Oelrich will represent District 2, the South district, until either Katey Treloar or Paul Dillon, the two candidates on the November ballot, are elected and sworn in.
