Metaline Falls hires new clerk

METALINE FALLS – The Town of Metaline Falls has hired its next clerk/treasurer.

Edward Estrada comes to Metaline Falls with a “myriad” of professional experiences and a desire to live in and become more involved with North Pend Oreille County, according to a press release from Metaline Falls Mayor Tara Leininger. He will work the rest of January with Siri Cates, current clerk/treasurer, before taking over her duties on Feb. 3.

Estrada is Metaline Falls’ eighth clerk/treasurer in 16 years. He was introduced at the Jan. 14 Metaline Falls Town Council meeting.

“I have had three people spend a year or so with us and then take a better- paying position with the Selkirk School District. I’ve had several that were ready to retire or move on,” Leininger said in the news release. “But all of the people we’ve had serve Metaline Falls have been good people with skills that made the work possible.”

In the clerk/treasurer report, several sewer customers have not been paying their sewer bill. Estrada and Cates will personally contact these customers to encourage their accounts be kept up to date. Others are using the town’s wastewater system but have not officially asked the council for permission to do so, nor have they paid.

The council hopes to resolve both situations in the report “quickly and without legal action,” according to the news release.

Blake McAnerin, council member and Fire District 2 assistant chief, updated the council on the purchase of a new ladder truck that can extend up to 105 feet and make water available to several tall buildings in the area. Metaline Falls has more tall buildings than the rest of the county.

In other action, Leininger is defending the Public Works Board during the Washington State legislative session. Many small towns depend on the PWB for funds in emergency situations; Metaline Falls received over $500,000 in low-interest loans and grants from the PWB for the erosion mitigation.

The meeting adjourned after the council thanked Cates for her two years as clerk/treasurer. They next meet at 6 p.m. on Feb. 11.