Mayor Jon Nehring presented the awards, which were given to the city by the Red Cross in December for its efforts following the murder-suicide at Marysville-Pilchuck High School Oct. 24.

The first plaque was given to the school district, represented by Ray Houser and M-PHS co-principal Deann Anguiano.

“They’ve been on the go day and night trying to help us through this and recover,” Nehring said of the district.

Representing the emergency responders were Fire Chief Greg Corn and Scott Goodale.

Nehring said even though they train for disasters, nothing could prepare them for what “they saw on that day.”

The mayor said he was never prouder of the police force as he was on that day as they showed care and concern for the community.

“The police force did everything possible,” Nehring said. “You can never plan on that happening in your community.”

The final award will hang in council chambers in honor of the entire 63,000 people in the community.

“The legacy is not the vicious attack but the way we took care of one another,” Nehring said. “It was amazing to watch.”

Also at the meeting, Lynn Brittingham of Kloz 4 Kidz was honored as Marysville Volunteer of the Month.

Brittingham is director of the nonprofit that provides free clothes for school-age kids.

Those who participate can receive up to 30 items every four months of gently used or new clothes. Since its inception six years ago, the nonprofit has helped 4,000 kids.

Brittingham, who taught in the Marysville School District for 31 years, sets up appointments with clients so the process is discreet. She volunteers up to 50 hours a week, has a budget of only $1,300 a month, and organizes 50 volunteers each month.

Finally, four candidates for the Marysville Strawberry Festival royalty introduced themselves.

Marina Ciferri is a junior at Marysville Getchell High School and Everett Community College as a Running Start student. She is a child of the military, living all over the world and being “uprooted every three years.” She went to districts last year as a freshman in tennis, works at The Gap and wants to be an OB/GYN.

Cassie Coate is a junior at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. She is a varsity cheerleader and golfer. She was on the Strawberry Festival junior royalty in 2010. She’s taking college and advanced placement classes. She likes math and art so she may go into architecture.

Natasha Flitz is a junior at M-P. She loves science and wants to be a doctor. She is involved in cross country, tennis and ensemble. She is a black belt in Taekwondo.

Savannah Perkins is a senior at MG. She loves writing and is editor of the yearbook. She also interns for a weekly newspaper and is editor of the EvCC Clipper newspaper staff. After an 18-month mission trip she plans to attend Utah State and major in journalism.

Jodi Hyatt, who oversees the royalty, said one of the four will be crowned queen and win a $5,000 scholarship. Two others will be princesses and win $3,500 scholarships.

In other council news:

• Jeff Vaughan acknowledged the Scouts who attended the meeting, and said that is where he learned to get involved and be a good citizen.

• Camille Norton said the parks board wants to open the Spray Park at 11 a.m. and also ban portable charcoal grills.

• Michael Stephens said his daughter plans all year for the Marysville Father-Daughter Dance, which is coming up the next two Saturdays. “She changes what outfit she’s going to wear every week,” he said, adding they have been going five years now since she was 2.

• Parks director Jim Ballew said, “We started something pretty cool,” with the father-daughter dance, as Everett and Burlington also are doing the dances now. He also said Rotary Ranch at Jennings Park will be done at the end of next week. The senior center will then move out of the annex and into the Rotary Ranch until the Ken Baxter Center is fixed. Speaking of Jennings Park, Ballew said it was packed on a recent 68-degree sunny day. Finally, he said Marysville for a fifth year will receive a Tree City USA designation for spending $2 or more per city resident on urban trees.