Pierce County Councilmember Doug Richardson has been elected as council chair for 2016. The seven-member body voted for leadership positions at the council’s Jan. 12 weekly meeting. Voting for committee leadership will occur at the Jan. 19 council meeting.

Councilmember Dan Roach will serve as vice-chair and Joyce MacDonald will continue in her position as executive pro tem. The chair presides at all regular council meetings, while the vice-chair presides in the absence of the chair. The executive pro tem is a councilmember selected to perform some of the County Executive’s duties in the event of the executive’s absence or temporary disability.

“The support of my fellow councilmembers in electing me council chair is appreciated,” said Richardson. “I look forward to great things ahead in 2016 for Pierce County.”

Prior to his election to the Pierce County Council in 2012, Richardson spent 17 years on the Lakewood City Council, including seven as mayor, and retired from the Army Reserve as a brigadier general after 32 years of active and reserve service.

Roach was elected to the Pierce County Council in 2010 and reelected in 2014. He served as Council chair for 2015. Prior to the County Council, Roach was elected to five terms in the Washington State House of Representatives.

McDonald, who is in her seventh year on the Council, has previously served as chair of the Council as well as five terms in the state House.

More information about the County Council is available online at www.piercecountywa.org/council or by calling (253) 798-7777. The full council meets Tuesdays at 3 p.m. in the Council Chambers on the 10th floor of the County-City Building, 930 Tacoma Ave. S., Room 1045, in Tacoma.

Council meetings are also televised live and replayed each week on Pierce County TV (channel 22 in most areas, and 522 on the Click! Network’s HD tier) and streamed live and archived at www.piercecountytv.org.