Hoquiam property purchase to pay dividends in just a few years

By Dan Hammock • February 25, 2020 4:30 pm
DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP Hoquiam Mayor Ben Winkelman, right, swears in Hoquiam Police officers Israel Fernandez, left, and Stefan Green, second from left, at Monday’s City Council meeting. Police Chief Jeff Myers introduced the two.
DAN HAMMOCK | GRAYS HARBOR NEWS GROUP Hoquiam Mayor Ben Winkelman, right, swears in Hoquiam Police officers Israel Fernandez, left, and Stefan Green, second from left, at Monday’s City Council meeting. Police Chief Jeff Myers introduced the two.

A property purchase that will pay dividends in a few years was approved Monday by the Hoquiam City Council, after the swearing in of two new additions to the police department.

The land purchase involves just shy of 39 acres of timber north of Beacon Hill Drive and west of Fry Creek. Finance Director Corri Schmid told the council that Montesano Forester Loren Hiner said with the harvest of that timber, which should be ready for harvest in about four years, the city would “see an 8% return on its investment.”

The land was owned by the MacGregor Land Company of West Linn, Oregon. The purchase price agreed upon by the city was $135,000. Schmid told the council it had the choice of taking the funds from either the watershed account or the general fund. Ward 2 Councilman Steven Puvogel made a motion to approve the sale using general fund reserves, and the council unanimously approved.

Officers sworn in

Stefan Green and Israel Fernandez were sworn in Monday by Mayor Ben Winkelman, with Police Chief Jeff Myers providing the introductions.

Green began working for the Hoquiam Police Department in March 2019 and graduated the law enforcement academy in December.

“His first day on solo patrol was today,” said Myers.

Green is a Montesano native with a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Washington University. He is the son of Aberdeen Police officer Bob Green, who is assigned as the Aberdeen School Resource Officer and was on hand to watch his son sworn in.

Fernandez, known as “Izzy” to his fellow officers, graduated the academy in December. “He’s a Hoquiam kid,” said Myers, who previously had seven years’ experience in banking and as a soccer coach and is a member of the Marine Corps Reserves. He was hired for the city jail in October 2019 and completed the corrections academy in December.

“Izzy is fluent reading and writing Spanish,” said Myers, and has already assisted in several instances where language was a barrier. “Having someone like that is a huge resource for our department.”

Myers also officially introduced Kayla Robinette, the city’s full-time records specialist. This position was added to the 2019-20 city budget in late 2018, and Myers said Robinette has helped significantly since she beat out more than 100 applicants for the position she started in June 2019. Robinette is a product of Hoquiam High School and also spent more than three years with the Hoquiam Police Explorers program.