Public Periscope

The public be darned

Spokane City Council members held a closed-door meeting last week to discuss the consulting team and process they will use to evaluate City Manager Roger Crum. They reportedly - and this is secondhand, since the press and public were barred from the room - reached consensus to hire Haupt Management Consultants to evaluate Crum, whose contract expired late last year. The council will make this all nice and official tonight, with a formal (or is that formality?) vote … Although this was a meeting of public office holders to discuss how to spend public money to evaluate a public official who is paid by public money, one can’t say for sure if the council’s exclusion of the public violated the state Open Meetings Act. The attorney general’s office is noncommittal: “There are some of these things you can’t answer real easily. This is one of them,” said senior counsel Chip Holcomb.

Smoking out some alternatives

Washington Department of Ecology Director Mary Riveland made headlines last week with her plan to cut bluegrass field burning 30 percent this year, 30 percent next year - and ban the practice by 1998. To get to a ban, Ecology officials must first prove that non-burning alternatives are available … That will be the topic of a three-day workshop which will bring together growers, clean air activists and regulators to debate the controversial issue … Today, the growers will discuss the economics of their industry. Tuesday, researchers will discuss burning alternatives. Wednesday will center on the health effects of field burning …All three meetings are from 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Ag Trade Center.

Say what?

We have every confidence in the ability of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department to investigate the incident involving Spokane Police Chief Terry Mangan, his shotgun and the three guys playing a CB radio game on the road in front of his house … Every confidence, despite the fact that a recent press release from the department lists the investigation as “ungoing.”

It’s on the ‘Net

Wonder how much money the state collects from any of its various taxes? Need help figuring out those pesky forms for the business and occupation tax? Curious about some detail of the property tax? … Check out the state Department of Revenue’s home page on the World Wide Web. It can be found at http:// www.wa.gov/DOR/wador.htm.

Because you asked

Question: A few weeks ago you said the gasoline tax helps pay for street construction among other things. I thought the money was to be used for construction only. What are the other things?

Answer: The money is designated to be used for new construction and repairs - which, come to think of it, would be listed as “construction” in most people’s books.

, DataTimes MEMO: Public Periscope, published Mondays, is compiled by Jim Camden from staff reports. If you’ve got a question about local government, growth or development, we’d like to help you find an answer. You can write us c/o The Spokesman-Review, Box 2160, Spokane, Wash., 99210. Or e-mail to jimc@spokesman.com. Or fax to (509) 459-5482. Or call Cityline at 458-8800 on a Touch-Tone telephone, the press 9120 to leave a message.

This sidebar appeared with the story: HOT TOPICS Tuesday: Help plan the city’s future at the Spokane Horizons meeting, No. 3 in a series of eight. 6:30 p.m., East Central Community Center, 500 S. Stone. Thursday: Meeting No. 4 in the Spokane Horizons series - same topics, new location. 5:30 p.m., North Central High School, 1600 N. Howard.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by Jim Camden from staff reports