Survey reveals ‘dysfunction’

A recent survey of Spokane County Building and Planning Department employees shows they are generally satisfied with themselves, but have a lot of complaints about their managers, their co-workers and lack of communication.

Much of the dissatisfaction was tied to the culture clash that has roiled the department since previously separate planners and building inspectors were combined in 1995.

Overwhelmingly, employees said they are providing good customer service.

But many complained about co-workers not pulling their weight: a building inspector doing fewer than one-tenth as many inspections as others, planners who take too long, people who chat too much, “the planning director leaving each day at lunch time or in the early afternoon.”

County Commissioner Bonnie Mager said she thinks the survey “certainly underscores what I think is the dysfunction that has been going on in Building and Planning.”

Commissioner Todd Mielke said “nothing really stood out” in the survey, but “I have had other discussions with people that tell me there are some issues that need to be addressed in the long run.”

Philosophical conflict between planners and building inspectors “doesn’t seem to be unique to Spokane County,” Mielke said.

Several survey respondents suggested ways to reorganize the department, and one hit on the plan commissioners intend to implement.

“Reorganize the department as part of an overall Community Development or Developmental Services department,” a staff member suggested.

In fact, Mager said, “After the holidays, we will be putting out specifications to hire a community development director who will head up the organization. My hope is that we will have this in place in the first quarter.”

Some assignments may change, but no one will be fired, Mager and Mielke said.

“If there is to be a reorganization, then it needs to be comprehensive … or we will wind up with a worse mess than what we have now,” a survey respondent said. “You have to remove those management figures that cannot act in an honest and ethical manner.”

Some called for the planning and building inspection divisions to be separated, but others wanted to encourage teamwork.

The most common complaint – over and over, in response to a wide range of questions – was that communication is poor.

“Management does not stop rumors by letting us know what is really going on,” one employee stated.

“Have staff meetings to limit gossip,” another wrote.

One thought better communication among staff members probably would show they “all have fundamentally the same goals as related to development.”

Gerry Gemmill, the county’s chief operating officer, said Building and Planning managers are scheduling more staff meetings.

A happy camper with “nothing but good things to say” appeared to be in a distinct minority. Most of the 39 survey respondents – 67 percent of the staff – had plenty of bad things to say about their colleagues, especially their supervisors.

“It seems apparent that the director does not understand the basic concepts of planning and planning regulations or just chooses to ignore them,” one wrote, referring to department director Jim Manson, whose background is in building inspection.

Another targeted assistant director, John Pederson, who has a planning background and heads the planning section: “Planning manager needs to learn to hold planning staff … accountable for their actions. He appears to have difficulty acting as a manager instead of a buddy.”

Other common complaints included favoritism, lack of training, lack of manpower, improper political influence and suspected invasion of privacy.

Several asserted that managers routinely monitor e-mail content and telephone conversations.

Senior county administrators say monitoring is done only in limited circumstances, and only by going through the Information Services Department. Still, Mager said she believes years of persistent complaints have “some credibility.”

One of the most common survey responses was that staff members are tired of “bickering,” “whistleblower complaints,” “my job vs. your job,” “building vs. planning.”

“Unhappy co-workers distract from the work at hand,” one wrote. “Fear and paranoia is contagious.”

“Too much union activity/scheming during work hours,” another wrote.

The survey revealed a backlash against planners who say county commissioners’ pro-development philosophy gives short shrift to land-use planning.

“Planning should be accountable by signing off on all permits so Building won’t be blamed for everything,” one respondent said.

The long-range planning section, a hotbed of discontent, came in for special criticism. Teamwork is prevented by “constant strife being inflicted on the department by (the) long-range planning staff,” one worker said.

Long-range planners includes Bruce Hunt, whose whistleblower complaint led county commissioners to conclude in April that department director Manson was guilty of several improper actions, including authorization of a day-care center in an airport crash zone and granting a zone change by ordering a map to be redrawn.

Some survey respondents thought long-range planners got preferential treatment earlier this year when they were moved out of the crowded Building and Planning office in the Public Works Building to a leased suite in the Monroe Court building.

Bring the long-range staff back and “crack the whip,” one critic suggested.

Mager found criticism of the new quarters ironic because some of the long-range planners believe they were exiled to “Siberia” to isolate them.