After lodging a formal complaint last month alleging the process to select the next Spokane County chief executive violated open meeting laws, former Commissioner Bonnie Mager has launched a petition to start the recruitment all over.

The petition, launched on the website Change.org, asks residents to support hiring a national recruitment firm to select the next chief executive of the county. The position, which pays about $162,000 annually, was advertised in the January pages of The Spokesman-Review, Seattle Times, The Oregonian and The Salt Lake Tribune, as well as several online publications targeting public sector employees.

However, the county did not elect to hire a recruitment firm, as was done by the Spokane County Health District and Spokane Public Schools when they were seeking replacements for top officials. Mager says that was a mistake.

"By their actions, they not only tried to deceive the public, they also put upper management and Spokane business leaders in the position of serving as a smoke screen for a decision that was made years ago - when Marshall Farnell received his $33,000 raise to postpone his retirement," Mager alleges. 

Farnell was given a raise in June 2012, following a consultant's study that showed his compensation was in the bottom 25 percent of chief executives in similarly sized counties. Mielke was absent for the vote on Farnell's raise, with commissioners Al French and Mark Richard approving the pay bump.

A panel of community business leaders, picked by French and Shelly O'Quinn, forwarded Mielke's name as their top choice to replace Farnell, who officially announced his retirement earlier this year after working for Spokane County since the early 1970s. Richard L. Davis, of West Jordan, Utah, was the other finalist interviewed by French and O'Quinn last month. 

County staff anticipate naming Farnell's replacement by June 15. But French and O'Quinn, who will decide the next CEO, have not publicly commented when the decision is to be made. Mager's request for an investigation into the hiring process was forwarded to the Attorney General several weeks ago.