City again rejects contract for EWU

Eastern Washington University’s archaeological unit was rebuffed a second time by the Spokane City Council on Monday night.

The council reconsidered its April decision to reject a bid from Archaeological and Historical Services, a research unit of EWU’s geography and anthropology department, and award the city’s archaeological work to Historical Research Associates Inc. based in Missoula.

Some City Council members said that the April decision was hurried and one-sided.

No EWU officials were at the April meeting to testify about allegations from the Spokane Tribe of Indians, who argued that the university violated the law by discussing details of a dig at Latah Creek and the Spokane River.

“If I feel like I made any type of a rash decision on council, it was that vote,” City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin said in an interview last week.

“I am really sorry that I voted so quickly that night instead of asking for a deferral.”

But EWU didn’t fare any better in the two-sided testimony, and the council voted 4 to 2 not to reconsider the April decision.

McLaughlin and Bob Apple voted to reopen the contract and give EWU another chance.

Four others voted to stick with the April decision.

The original vote went against the advice of city staff.

The Spokane Tribe argued that the university made a dig at People’s Park vulnerable to treasure hunters by discussing certain details of it with a Spokesman-Review reporter.

Laurie Connelly, associate to the president at EWU, responded that the tribe was warned about the interview but did not raise any concerns before the reports appeared in the press. Tribal representatives dispute that claim.

Connelly also said the site had been written about before and that the tribe didn’t raise concerns.

She said details discussed did not break the law.

“The work on this site was very public,” Connelly said.

In the 2006 Spokesman-Review story about the People’s Park dig, Stan Gough, who leads EWU’s Archaeological and Historical Services, said archaeologists uncovered 60,000 artifacts.

The work proved that human habitation at the site dates back 8,000 years.

The city was required to do archaeological work at the site, which is near the confluence of Latah Creek and the Spokane River, before building overflow tanks for its sewage system.