Albion City Council back to five members

Whitman County commissioners Monday morning appointed two new Albion City Council members. The action was required at the county level because Albion was unable to fill the two seats, which have been vacant since Sept. 23 of last year, within 90 days.

Karsten Erickson and Crystle Morgan were appointed.

In a Feb. 24 letter, Albion Mayor Randell L. Crowner asked the commissioners to appoint two people to fill the vacant council positions. The council has been meeting with just three members.

“It’s a small town and everybody’s busy,” Crowner told the Gazette Tuesday. “This has been an issue for the last 12 years.”

Crowner has been Albion’s mayor for 12 years and is thinking about running again.

“I’m pleased with the appointments and I’m looking forward to having a full council again,” Crowner said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

He said the town’s budget is tight and costs keep increasing.

“Our infrastructure is deteriorating,” he said. “We just spent $500,000 on a sewer system problem and we think it will take between $100,000 to $500,000 to upgrade our water system. With the nationwide budget crunch, we get no help from the state or federal government, so it falls on the shoulders of 500 people. It’s hard to survive.”

Crowner is the head custodian at Lincoln Middle School in Pullman.

With just three council members, Crowner said it was hard to get a quorum.

“Now we can have regular meetings and solve our problems.”

Crowner said that Albion has a diverse city council, with members having different backgrounds and ranging in age from 20s to retirement.