Joyce Fancher

TONASKET – Joyce Fancher, one of two mayoral candidates, wants to do what she can do for the City of Tonasket if she becomes mayor.

“When Patrick Walter chose not to run, a number of people asked me to run for mayor and I decided I would try,” Fancher said. “I don’t have great political ambitions but sometimes you’ve got to do what you can do.”

Fancher, a current city council member, said she is hoping the support she received during the primary election will carry over into the general election. Near the end of August, a primary election was held to narrow the mayoral candidates from three to two. Fancher had 105 votes or 46.88 percent of the votes in the primary election.

Fancher said her main priorities as mayor will be to annex outlying areas around Tonasket and to create a Parks and Recreation Committee.

“We need to annex some outlying areas of our city to increase our tax base so we can afford to provide services,” Fancher said. “The cost of things are rising and we don’t want to raise taxes for the people in the city limits so we need to annex the areas around Tonasket that we provide services to.”

Fancher said annexation is her top priority and it is a matter of fiscal responsibility to get annexation done. She said the purpose of a Parks and Recreation Committee would be to start a parks and recreation district which would be for both the city and the school.

“I think the support for my candidacy has been good,” Fancher said. “People have been very encouraging and very positive when I talk to them.”

Fancher said she entered politics because, at the time, the city council was in the headlines, but not for positive reasons.

“It was getting embarrassing and you can either sit at home and complain or you can do something about it, so that’s what I did,” Fancher said.

She said if she does not win the mayoral election, she will continue in her city council position. She added that one of the reasons she is running is that she believes she would do a better job as mayor.

“Patrick Plumb was on the council when Dave Caddy was mayor and things weren’t going well for the city, so that concerns me, but I don’t want to be negative,” Fancher said.