MEDICAL LAKE—A popular sentiment after the shutdowns and hardships of 2020 may be for residents to plead for everything to “get back to normal.” However, simply hoping for things to get back to the way they were may not always be the right mindset, City Administrator Doug Ross and Mayor Shirley Maike said when discussing the city’s outlook for 2021.

“It’s been nine months now,” Ross said. “I don’t like when people say ‘life returns as normal.’ Maybe this is normal.”

He noted that the city functions nearly the same as before, with the exception of city hall being clo...