Council Accused Of Sabotage Eugster Says Members Trying To Defeat Strong-Mayor Initiative

Spokane attorney Steve Eugster is accusing the City Council of setting his strong-mayor initiative up for a fall.

“We fear that the City Council … is, in fact, trying to cause the defeat” of the measure that would toss out the city manager in favor of a mayor who serves as top administrator, Eugster wrote in a letter sent to council members last week.

The council last month informally agreed to put the measure before voters Sept. 17. But members won’t take a formal vote on the matter until Monday.

Eugster alleges the council has made a successful campaign for the initiative nearly impossible for several reasons:

At least three council members are opposed to the initiative and one is “actively speaking against” it.

Even though council members decided in June to seek a vote on the proposal, they’ve waited another month to ask the county to place the measure on the ballot. He said that gives strong-mayor supporters less time to campaign.

The Sept. 17 primary ballot already is packed with other issues, making it a bad place for the initiative.

At least two council members think Eugster’s charges are ludicrous.

“He should be running a campaign right now,” said Mayor Jack Geraghty.

“Why is he sitting on his hands?” said Councilwoman Phyllis Holmes. “We’ve said we’re going to do what we’re going to do.

“You’d have thought he would have been out of the chute.”

Under Eugster’s plan, the mayor would serve as the city’s top administrator and could appoint someone to oversee day-to-day business and department heads.

The mayor would earn at least $80,000 and not a penny less than the highest-paid city employee.

A seven-member council would include five members elected by district and two elected at-large. The mayor could veto council decisions, but the council could override vetoes with five votes.

Eugster brought his initiative to the council in March. At the time, he asked council members to drop the petition-drive requirement and put the strong-mayor measure directly before voters.

Six council members voted “no,” saying signatures were needed to show support for the initiative. Councilman Jeff Colliton sided with Eugster.

But when City Manager Roger Crum resigned last month, council members changed their minds, arguing that the threat of the measure would make it impossible to fill Crum’s slot.

If they had done that in March, Eugster said, he would have had time to launch a successful campaign, but that window of opportunity has closed.

He argues that because he never gave council members the OK last month to put the measure on the fall ballot, they can’t legally do it.

In fact, if the initiative fails Sept. 17, Eugster plans to use the 1,672 signatures he’s already gathered to put the measure before voters in September 1997.

“Our signatures are valuable to us,” Eugster said in the letter. “They represent a segment of the voters .. who desire to have the measure placed on the ballot at the proper time.”

City Attorney Jim Sloane said the council didn’t need Eugster’s approval to move the measure onto the ballot. In addition, Eugster can’t use the old signatures, Sloane said.

“He’ll have to start the process over.”

Eugster said Sloane’s position could make for “interesting litigation.”

Eugster contends in his letter that at least three council members oppose the plan, but doesn’t say which ones.

Attempts to reach him Friday were unsuccessful.

Geraghty, Holmes and Colliton said last week they hadn’t made up their minds about the strong-mayor measure. Council members Orville Barnes, Chris Anderson and Mike Brewer could not be reached for comment.

Councilwoman Roberta Greene, away on vacation last week, will debate Eugster over the measure before the Spokane Chamber of Commerce.

, DataTimes