Left to right: Brian Munson, Mike Dalesandro, Adrian Cortes and Cherish DesRochers are sworn in during last week’s Battle Ground City Council meeting.
Mike Dalesandro was named mayor of Battle Ground last week at the beginning of the city’s first council meeting of the year.
Dalesandro, who was elected to the council in 2013, replaces Philip Johnson, who served as mayor for one term of two years.
The mayor of Battle Ground is chosen from the council, by the council, biennially and can serve up to two terms. As mayor, Dalesandro will be the face of Battle Ground at various social gatherings around the city and will fill the role of presiding officer at city council meetings. His vote and authority remains equal to that of a councilor.
Dalesandro said being selected by his fellow councilors is humbling and an honor.
As the face of the city, the Battle Ground resident since 2005 hopes to be a positive connection between the city and its residents and to help foster a culture that accepts growth and increased diversity as a good thing.
“One thing about Battle Ground that has always — since I moved here — stuck with me is the heart of the community,” he said. “It’s a very caring community. A lot of people are very involved in a lot of different things.”
Dalesandro is a supply chain analyst for Boise Paper in Vancouver. For 2018, He will sit on two boards in Clark County — Columbia River Economic Development Council and Urban Policy, as well as an alternate for C-TRAN and the Regional Transportation Council.
Johnson described his time as mayor as a “wonderful time” and joked that he got paroled after two years of “almost good behavior.”
“Everything seemed to work out for me and work out for the city,” he said. “I have absolutely nothing to complain about.”
Dalesandro was reelected to the council in November along with Brian Munson, Adrian Cortes and Cherish DesRochers. All four, who ran unopposed, were sworn in last week and at one point or another have served on the Battle Ground Planning Commission.
Munson has served on the council since last July 2016, when he was appointed to fill Lyle Lamb’s seat, who moved away to pursue a business opportunity.
After starting as a pro tem council member in summer 2016 when the late Bill Ganley’s health declined, DesRochers was confirmed as a city councilor in early 2017 to fill Ganley’s seat.
This will be Cortes’ second stint on the council, after serving from 2012-2015.
