In addition to appointing a new city councilmember, the Edmonds City Council took several other actions at its Tuesday night meeting, including selling police dog Kira to the City of Everett, renaming a fire station in honor of late community activist Betty Mueller and awarding a bid for the City Park Spray Pad to Aquatic Specialty Services.

Assistant Police Chief Jim Lawless noted that the Edmonds Police Department purchased Kira as a puppy for $1,500 from funds that were raised and donated by the Edmonds Police Foundation. However, Kira’s K9 handler was promoted and that position is now temporarily vacant until three officers currently in the police academy graduate, and three additional vacant positions are filled, Lawless said.

Lawless said it’s important that Kira, now age 5, continues to work and use her training, instead of waiting for a new handler to come on board and complete the four-month training for state certification — which isn’t likely to happen until early in 2016. The Everett Police Department has agreed to purchase her, and will be placing her with one of their K9 handlers, Lawless noted.

The council voted unanimously to approve the sale, but only after stipulating that the funds received for Kira will be returned to the Edmonds Police Foundation for use for the future purchase of another police dog.

In addition, the council approved a proposal to name Fire Station No. 16 in honor of the late Betty Mueller, a community organizer who founded the Edmonds Public Safety Foundation, among many other contributions. Several people spoke in favor of the action during a public hearing, including Dave Page, who noted that a fund has been established at Union Bank, 123 3rd Ave. S., to raise the $3,000 needed to provide a plaque for Mueller at the fire station, located on 196th Street Southwest in Edmonds.

The council also awarded a bid to Aquatic Spray Services to install the spray pad water feature at City Park, and authorized the mayor to sign a supplemental agreement with Site Workshop for $1,800 to install lights at the existing crosswalk leading to the City Park (a recommendation that was made in the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the project). Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Carrie Hite told the council that she’s hopeful the spray pad will be operating by early July.