Council authorizes short-term interlocal agreement to provide planning and building services to neighboring city

The Moses Lake City Council authorized the city manager to enter into a short-term interlocal agreement to provide planning and building permit and inspection services to a neighboring municipality that reported a staffing vacancy. The measure passed unanimously. City Manager Doug Carlinzi described a request from Mayor Peter Sharp (present in the chamber) for temporary assistance after that city lost a planning/building staff position. Carlinzi said he proposed offering the service through Moses Lake staff “at cost,” and Mayor Sharp said his city needs to move from paper-based permitting to an online platform and would appreciate the city’s assistance during the transition. Council member Victor Lombardi moved to authorize the city manager to enter the interlocal agreement for up to six months; the council amended the motion on the record to clarify “at cost” would include employee hourly rates plus a roughly 15% overhead charge and any miscellaneous costs such as travel. The motion passed unanimously. City staff said the agreement will be subject to review and approval by the city attorney before execution. The authorization covers only a short interim period (six months) and is intended to provide technical support while the requesting municipality recruits permanent staff and modernizes its permitting systems; staff indicated the arrangement would be billed to the requesting city.