Spokane Valley hired an interim deputy city manager this week who may sound a little familiar to the folks in the city just to the west.

Roger Crum.

Crum worked for the City of Spokane for 22 years, was deputy city manager for 11 and city manager for five, ending in mid 1996 when he took the city manager's job in Evanston, Ill.

He was part of a management team -- Terry Novak, then Crum, then Bill Pupo -- that ran City Hall from the late 1970s to the late 1990s when the city switched from the council-manager form of government to the strong-mayor system.

Apparently his connection to the city of Spokane was not a disqualifier for the Valley job.

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