Joe Shogan, the former Spokane City Council president, made his first appearance at a council meeting last night since leaving the dais in 2011, when he reached his term limits and was replaced by Ben Stuckart.

Showing that he hasn’t lost any of the pizzazz that made him a memorable, if excitable, council leader, Shogan punched away at Mayor David Condon, hotelier Walt Worthy, council gadfly George McGrath and the conservative Eighth Man group that’s become something of a outraged fixture at council meetings this year.

Shogan spoke during the meeting’s final public forum, more than two hours after the meeting began as the chambers were nearly empty following discussion of street vacations, mass transit and other more pedestrian, governmental affairs.

Before getting to the “very serious matter” on his mind – the agreement between Spokane Mayor David Condon and Walt Worthy for up to $2 million in pollution clean-up for the Grand Hotel Spokane – Shogan poked McGrath.

“I never watch council meetings,” Shogan said. “I can only take so much of Mr. McGrath and his band of merry men, although I see he still hasn’t been elected to city council. For somebody that knows so much about it, I would have thought he’d been there. But speaking of him and his eight-man nitpicking crew, I thought the topic I have tonight he would have been all over, in his concerns for public funds.”

Shogan mentioned a Spokesman-Review article detailing an agreement between Condon and Worthy for city funds dedicated to soil remediation, and spent the next few minutes laying out a case against such a transfer of public dollars.

“Quite frankly, this is in illegal gift of city property, city funds and a violation of the Washington state constitution, Article 8, section 7,” Shogan said. “Says in part: No county, city, town or other municipal corporation shall hereafter give any money, or property, or loan its money, or credit to anyone of any individual, association, company or corporation, except in the case of charity.”

(Those aren’t the exact words, but he’s close enough.)

 “Well, I don’t think Mr. Worthy is a charity,” Shogan said. “This is a gift. Why is it a gift? Because there’s absolutely no city responsibility for the clean-up of that property whatsoever.”

After going through the ins and outs of property transfer and indemnification, Shogan delivered his conclusion.

“There’s no way in hell this council can pay for this,” he said.

Whether he was done or not isn’t clear because Stuckart tried to cut Shogan off, saying he had exceeded the allotted three minutes.

“Thank you Mr. Shogan,” Stuckart said. “We’re at 3:20.”

“All right. Give me ten seconds,” Shogan said.

“I tell George to be quiet all the time. You can’t do this to me,” Stuckart said.

Shogan would not be dissuaded.

“Thanks for doing your job,” he told the council. “If Mr. Worthy wants to be paid, let him go to the millionaire mayor and get his 300 grand.”