Robertson named to council

Spokane Valley Planning Commission Chairman Ian Robertson was elevated to the City Council Tuesday.

At least until the end of the year, Robertson will fill the vacancy created June 30 when Steve Taylor resigned to become city administrator of Connell, Wash. Robertson will have to win election Nov. 3 to continue serving the remaining two years in Taylor’s term.

Robertson was appointed with the support of Mayor Rich Munson and council members Diana Wilhite, Bill Gothmann and Dick Denenny. Council members Rose Dempsey and Gary Schimmels voted for Ben Wick, who cut his political teeth in support of Spokane Valley incorporation.

Wick was an Eastern Washington University student when he got interested in Spokane Valley politics. Now an information technology systems engineer for Goodrich Aerospace, Wick is at least a generation younger than Robertson and the other finalist, Diana Sanderson.

Robertson retired in 2007 as senior pastor of Spokane Valley Nazarene Church, while Sanderson retired last year as adult education minister at St. Mary’s Church.

Although Munson nominated Sanderson, no one voted for her.

Gothmann said Wick “submitted the best application, by far,” and he credited Sanderson’s ability to understand people thanks to her teaching background. But Gothmann said he was swayed by Robertson’s Planning Commission experience and his broad recognition and respect in the community.

Robertson “hits the ground running,” Gothmann said, echoing Wilhite and Denenny.

Denenny found Robertson best suited to “cross barriers” in the community “that may not be all that easy to cross.”

Munson wanted someone who has “a very good chance of winning the election because I intend to support whoever wins tonight and it’s a lot of political capital for me to spend.” Munson is fighting to keep his own seat on the council in a battle with state Sen. Bob McCaslin.

Like Denenny, Munson encouraged Sanderson and Wick to apply for vacancies on the Planning Commission.

The council interviewed the three finalists at its previous meeting and spent a week mulling the answers.

“During the week, I came down solidly for each of the candidates,” Dempsey said.

In other business, the council rejected a last-minute proposal to endorse an Aug. 18 primary election measure to renew a 0.1 percent sales tax for law enforcement that nets the city around $750,000 a year.

State law requires city officials to invite public comment before taking a position on ballot measures, and City Attorney Mike Connelly noted the issue wasn’t on the agenda when Tuesday’s meeting was advertised.

“No one knows that you are doing this,” Connelly said.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t vote on something tonight, Ian,” Munson said to Robertson, who had taken his seat at the council dais.