Flare over press event signals tension on commission

Standing next to the Courthouse, flanked by race cars, a police car and three kids in baseball uniforms, two county commissioners Thursday touted the recent transfer of Spokane Raceway Park to Spokane County.

Noticeably absent from the official county press conference, announced Wednesday afternoon, was County Commission Chairwoman Bonnie Mager.

Mager, the only commissioner opposed to the county’s purchase of the Airway Heights track, said that she left town Wednesday afternoon for a conference in Seattle and that no one discussed with her the possibility of holding a media event about the raceway’s opening.

“Isn’t it interesting that I go out of town and now there’s a press conference on the raceway?” she said. “I don’t think it’s any coincidence that this impromptu press conference is being staged in my absence.”

Commissioner Todd Mielke said the conference was scheduled to address timely news – the county’s first full day of ownership of the track.

“The issue is, this is the first day we took possession and everyone is wanting to know what we’re doing,” Mielke said. “It doesn’t make sense to talk about the first day of ownership five days later.”

The raceway is holding its first event under county ownership this weekend, the Spokane County Grand Prix. Organizers say about 100 drivers are expected to participate.

Mager’s concern about the news conference is another sign of tension between Mager and Mielke and Commissioner Mark Richard over the county’s purchase of the raceway in April. In May, Mielke and Richard attended a meeting at the raceway without inviting Mager, a gathering that may have broken government meetings law.

In public, the three have, for the most part, maintained amicability. Outside of public forums, they have accused one another of playing raceway politics. Mielke and Richard are up for re-election in November.

“You’re going to hear a lot of political messages, a lot of doom and gloom because somebody wants this to fail,” Richard said in an interview Tuesday. “This is an economic engine in the West Plains, and the two commissioners that are fighting for it are the ones who don’t reside or represent that district.”

Mager has said that stating her concerns about the raceway and county finances is about protecting taxpayers, not about politics.

On Wednesday, the county paid the rest of the $4.4 million it owed for the 315 acres of the raceway. County CEO Marshall Farnell said the county likely will combine that with $6 million needed for county golf course improvements and about $8 million in sewer repairs when it gets a bond to pay for the expenses later this year.

The day after getting keys for the site, County Parks Director Doug Chase said he has 14 days of racing scheduled through the end of the racing season in October. Law enforcement also will use the track for driver training on six days, he said.

“We’ve owned it since yesterday,” he said. “That’s not too bad.”

Chase said the parks department plans to use work crews from Geiger Corrections Center to help clean the site, to save taxpayer dollars.

Also talking at the half-hour press conference were Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, Airway Heights Mayor Mathew Pederson and representatives from Spokane Regional Sports Commission and the Spokane Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Eric Sawyer, executive director of the sports commission, said vacant raceway land that could be transformed into a regional sports complex for youth and other sports teams will “provide the kind of quality of life that I think the West Plains deserves.”

“It’s an underserved part of the community when we talk about sports and rec, and we’re looking forward to building on that,” Sawyer said.