By Ann McCreary
Traci Day has resigned from the Twisp Town Council after six years as a council member, although her name appears on the November general election ballot running unopposed for her council seat.
“I feel my personal life has become too busy, and I can’t devote the time required to be effective,” Day said this week.
Day had registered as a candidate for re-election to her council position, but said she would not take the seat if she were elected.
Day has been a council member since 2010, when she was appointed to fill a seat that became vacant after Soo Ing-Moody took on the mayor’s job.
An avid proponent of developing a community trail through Twisp, Day has spearheaded efforts to plan the trail, negotiate easements and rights-of-way, and acquire funding for the project.
The town was awarded about $200,000 in state Recreation and Conservation Organization grant funding this year for the trail, and plans to break ground on the project in 2016, said Ing-Moody.
“I will say that as the mayor I’ve appreciated working alongside Traci for several years and it’s been a great pleasure to have such a contributing council member as part of the team,” Ing-Moody said this week.
“I will miss her at the council table and the energy she brought. I want to call out especially her work and passion in the area of trails. She’s really been a force that helped the town move forward in our goal of finally seeing a trail come to be for the town.”
The proposed 3-mile trail would run from the western edge of town at the Twisp ponds and along the Twisp River to the town park. It would continue along the Methow River from the park on donated easements and rights-of-way that Day helped arrange.
The trail would continue to the Twisp River Bridge where it would cross to the other side of the river and go south along the Methow River on property owned by Bob Ulrich, Hank Conrad, Mike Port and the Lloyd family, all of whom have previously indicated support for the project.
Plans also call for the trail to run northward along the east side of the river on property owned by the Lloyd family.
An update on the trail project, and discussion of filling Day’s seat are scheduled for the Twisp Town Council meeting on Thursday (Oct. 15) at 5 p.m. The meeting was rescheduled from Tuesday due to lack of a quorum.
“We’ll be discussing how the council wishes to proceed in the interim and moving forward to the next election,” Ing-Moody said.
