September 18, 2008 in Voices

Sheriff Knezovich proposes Valley Mall substation

Councilman Taylor objects to idea of city joining with sheriff

• Print
• Email
• Share

A proposal for Spokane Valley to support a sheriff’s substation at the Spokane Valley Mall provoked a sharp rebuke Tuesday from a City Councilman.

City Councilman Steve Taylor wanted no part of a proposal to embrace Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich’s unilateral decision to open an office at the mall.

The office, near the Sears store at the mall’s west entrance, is to be manned by volunteers from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and, occasionally, by sheriff’s deputies.

Councilman Bill Gothmann called for City Manager Dave Mercier to “report on ways we could partner with the storefront opening the sheriff has at the mall.

“The sheriff has made the point numerous times that the way crime is reduced is through partnerships, and I want to be a good partner,” Gothmann said.

“To me, a proper partnership would be coming to the city and to the council ahead of time,” Taylor said.

Mercier thought the city should “observe for some period of time” before deciding whether to “formalize the notion” of a satellite to the city police station the Sheriff’s Office operates under contract.

Deputy Mayor Dick Denenny, presiding in Mayor Rich Munson’s absence, said he wanted time to “mull it over.”

Gothmann said he wanted to be part of Knezovich’s “experiment,” but Taylor thought it would have been better to consider “an overall law enforcement plan” before opening the mall office.

“If the sheriff wants to come into our city and work outside of the contract to provide these types of services as a pilot project, I guess he does have the jurisdiction,” Taylor said. “But treading over jurisdictional boundaries doesn’t create good partnerships.”

Gothmann said his concern was “much more with crime reduction than with who gets the credit or does what.”

Taylor responded that he could name “quite a few” parts of the city with more crime than at the mall.

The dispute came just two weeks after the City Council decided to revive a controversial plan to study the city’s contract with the sheriff for police service.

As proposed when it was voted down in July, the study would have considered whether the city should form its own Police Department. The council backed away from that language when it agreed earlier this month to reconsider the study.

Spokane Valley Police Chief Rick Van Leuven, a sheriff’s officer who answers to Knezovich as well as Mercier, didn’t participate in Tuesday’s discussion.

Knezovich wasn’t at the meeting, but said in an interview that mall officials approached Van Leuven this spring with an offer to donate space for a satellite Sheriff’s Office.

“He brought it to our command staff and we said it sounded like a good idea, and then he took it to the city manager,” Knezovich said.

Later, he said he wasn’t sure Van Leuven didn’t go to Mercier first. In any event, Knezovich said, Mercier was consulted in May.

“We’re still waiting for his decision on that,” Knezovich said. “In the meantime, we decided to go ahead.”

He said he briefed Council members Gothmann, Rose Dempsey and Gary Schimmels “in hopes to garner support for the project” before announcing it by himself last week.

Why just those council members? “Those are the three that have extended their willingness to speak on issues,” Knezovich said.

He doesn’t regard his actions as provocative at time when his office is embroiled in a sensitive political issue.

“Doing the right thing for the people should be the most important part,” Knezovich said. “Politics should be second fiddle to the safety of the citizens.”

In other business Tuesday, the council rejected a staff proposal to block westward left turns onto Indiana Avenue, across southbound traffic on Argonne Road, to get to the Marie Callender’s restaurant at 2111 N. Argonne Road and other businesses.

The turning motorists sometimes are T-boned by southbound traffic they don’t anticipate. A traffic light at the Interstate 90 overpass creates breaks in two southbound lanes, but traffic in the rightmost lane flows onto I-90 and doesn’t have to stop.

Public Works Director Neil Kersten and Traffic Engineer Inga Note offered several solutions, but recommended extending a concrete divider to force northbound motorists to make their left turns farther north, at Knox Avenue, where there is a signal.

The council balked at the $47,000 cost and decided to try no-left-turn signs first.

Council members also called for signs to inform motorists that they can make a U-turn at Knox or else go a block west to reach their destinations from Hutchinson Avenue.

Also Tuesday, the council agreed to future consideration of a staff proposal to try an experimental “flex time” system for nonunion city employees. The plan would apply to about one-third of the 85-member staff.

Human Resources Manager John Whitehead said the idea is to improve productivity, retain good employees and reduce gasoline consumption.

He proposed a couple of schedules that call for longer work days in exchange for more days off, and one that would allow city regulators to work the same hours as the contractors they regulate.

City Hall would remain open as usual.

John Craig may be contacted at johnc@spokesman.com.

No comments on this story so far. Add yours!