Charges flying in Millwood mayor’s race

Millwood is a quiet town not easily agitated, as long as its streets are plowed and crews collect the leaves in the fall. Not easily, that is, unless there’s a mayoral election.

With two weeks remaining before Millwood selects a mayor, candidate and local government critic Robert P. Mankin is playing hardball with opponent Dan Mork. A retired boilermaker, Mankin is accusing 24-year City Councilman Mork of giving a family member free construction materials from a city project, holding alcohol parties in City Hall and bringing an abortion clinic to town. Those allegations and many more arrived in the mailboxes of Millwood residents last week.

Mork, who says the charges are untrue, countered last Thursday with a flier highlighting his main goal to “continue to provide the best services to citizens at one of the lowest tax rates in the state.” Basically, Mork is ignoring Mankin, a longtime Millwood resident whose tussles with local government are things of local legend.

The city installed bulletproof glass at its town hall public counter and a panic button several months ago to shield employees from Mankin, who outgoing Mayor Jeanne Batson says is a dangerous threat. At one point last fall, the city locked down Town Hall to keep Mankin out of the building, denying access to everyone else in the process.

Mork’s response to his opponent is more measured.

“I deal with Mr. Mankin on a monthly basis at council meetings and treat him like any other citizen,” Mork said. “I appreciate his attendance at meetings except when he disrupts the meetings and has to be escorted out.”

Among the allegations that Mankin makes against Mork is that Mork’s grandfather’s roof is flashed with the same copper used to flash the town’s fire hall. Mork, who says he’s baffled by many of Mankin’s allegations, said the flashing issue is a misunderstanding. The home in question used to belong to Mork’s grandfather several years ago, but was sold. And the new owner has decided to use copper flashing, Mork said. He doesn’t know where she got it, but it didn’t come from the city.

Mankin argues in his campaign flier that there are homes in Millwood that are not sewered, which Mork doesn’t deny. There are several homes in Millwood that never hooked up to the county sewer line servicing the city. Millwood once threatened to sue the owners of the unsewered homes for not hooking up, Mork said, but the legal action required cooperation from the Spokane County prosecutor, who wasn’t willing to back up the town. Millwood has since decided to raise the matter of hooking up to the sewer line with new homeowners whenever the unconnected houses sell.

And there is a Planned Parenthood office in Millwood that does offer abortions, Mork acknowledged, but state law would not allow the council to deny the sexual health clinic a building permit based on the personal beliefs of individual members. Abortion is an unusual issue for a city election, because it is generally a state and federal concern.

Mankin’s platform isn’t all accusations, however. He’d like to see Millwood drop the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office as its law enforcement contractor and appoint a town marshal instead.

“If I take over as mayor, that damn Sheriff’s Office is out of there and there’s going to be a town marshal and an ordinance for everyone in Millwood to arm themselves,” Mankin said. “And if anyone knocks down the door, shoot the bastard.”

Mankin realizes that if he’s elected, he’s unlikely to garner the votes from City Council necessary to carry out his agenda. So he’s advocating a new form of government, allowing Millwood residents to vote by phone on local government issues.

Mankin is a sincere man, who is proud of his career as a boilermaker machinist. He helped construct a crane in 1971 capable of lifting 5 million pounds. And he worked on many of the water towers in Spokane Valley.

A look into his criminal background reveals that he pleaded guilty to attempted indecent liberties in 1982 for feeling his daughter’s breast after “drinking a lot.” Now 65, Mankin said the plea is in the past and that he made it only to spare his family the pain of a lengthy trial. The charge was trumped up, he said, by people angry that he’d quarreled with a middle school regarding his children staying late for detention. In 2004, Mankin pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent driving, a charge reduced from driving under the influence of alcohol. Last January, he was charged with reckless driving.

Cleve McCoul, Millwood’s public works director, said that twice he and another city employee were driving in a city truck when Mankin swerved his vehicle into their lane from the opposite direction and then swerved back.

McCoul said they reported the two incidents after police were called to Town Hall by other employees who said Mankin was harassing them.

A background search on Mork revealed no criminal convictions.

Mork, 48, a biologist who harvests pollen for creating allergy antidotes, has a short campaign platform. If elected, he plans to write a town newsletter and survey residents frequently to gather public opinion. Furthermore, Mork wants to streamline the review process for development and building in town, while protecting neighbors adjacent to new construction.