Our View: Great expectations
It was early evening Wednesday and Bonnie Mager was being sworn in as Spokane County’s newest commissioner. A woman standing in the back of the crowd at the Spokane Public Library downtown held a swaddled baby in her arms. The woman patted the baby’s heavy blanket in a rhythmic way.
The acoustics were such that the mother’s patting became as loud as a drumbeat, and the sound seemed appropriate to the occasion. In her two decades as a citizen activist, Mager beat the drum for openness in government, for curbs on overdevelopment in Spokane County and for attention to the neighborhoods and environment that contribute to the county’s coveted quality of life.
On Monday, when she officially assumes office, Mager goes from citizen activist to elected official. The hard work will begin.
The most important part of this beginning should be the commitment by Mager and the two other commissioners – Todd Mielke and Mark Richard – to act professionally toward one another, in public and in private.
Mager has been criticized in the past for taking things too personally. And Mielke and Richard recently played out a version of adult junior high school in their dealings with Dr. Kim Thorburn, former head of the Spokane Regional Health District, who was fired Nov. 15.
When some Spokane City Council members acted unprofessionally several years ago, it was embarrassing. In the worst of economic times here, a rumor circulated that Boise’s Chamber of Commerce used a video of Spokane’s fighting council to convince businesses to locate in Boise, rather than Spokane. The rumor, though never substantiated, was believable because of the lack of civility council members showed one another.
Mager also campaigned on the promise of more openness in county government. She rightfully questioned the timing of commission meetings, which are held each Tuesday afternoon, beginning at 2 p.m. They often end just as most people are getting off work.
The reasons given for the afternoon meeting time vary depending on whom you ask. Do afternoon meetings mean less staff overtime? Or are they more convenient for business people? Or are afternoon meetings a way to discourage citizen participation?
Changing at least some of the commission meetings to evening hours, encouraging more public participation and broadcasting the meetings when people are actually watching television would be a good start toward the openness goal.
Spokane County is on the nation’s radar now. Job growth is finally happening. Young people, retirees and returning middle-age Inland Northwesterners are discovering – and rediscovering – the region. The drumbeat now should be well-planned growth and civic participation by all county stakeholders.
Spokane County is finally growing into its best self. In 2007, county citizens will be looking to their two experienced commissioners, Mielke and Richard, and to their newest commissioner, Mager, to reflect this reality in an open and professional way. May the citizens not be disappointed.