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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mayor Towey takes helm

Longtime Valley resident leads ‘Positive Change’ coalition

Ten minutes after beginning his first meeting as a new member of the Spokane Valley City Council, Tom Towey was elected mayor. That set off a month of frantic activity as Towey tried to learn all he could about his new job and participate in numerous meetings. He even bought a copy of “Robert’s Rules for Dummies” to polish his skills.

The nomination by his fellow council members for the ceremonial office of mayor wasn’t a complete surprise, however. Several council members had asked him if he would be willing to serve in the role. “I said I would, but I didn’t expect it,” he said. “I’m glad they have the confidence that I can do the job. I had planned on having the mayor as someone with a little more experience.”

Towey, 66, grew up in the Valley, attending Trent Elementary and West Valley High School, but he never graduated. He left school in December 1960 to join the Navy, six months short of his diploma.

Towey was one of nine children and worked each summer to bring in money to help support his large family. He quit school because he wanted the steady paycheck and the ability to send money home. It is something he has regretted ever since. “I’m not proud of it,” he said. “I’ve always had an empty hole in my life that I didn’t finish.”

Still, Towey believes serving in the Navy was good for him. It gave his life structure and he was able to earn his GED during the four years that he served. “I had a great experience in the Navy,” he said. “Looking back, I certainly think I helped my family, but if I was to do it over again I think I would have finished (high school). It was only six months.”

After returning home, he got a job at Rosauers. Always eager to add to his education, he took accounting classes at Spokane Community College, then entered a business management program at Spokane Falls Community College. Because of his long days at work, he was only able to take one class per quarter. It took him 11 years to finish the program.

Towey worked at Rosauers for 32 years – mostly as a store manager – before retiring 13 years ago at age 53. He spent a year running the juvenile missing persons program for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office as a SCOPE volunteer, then was invited to coordinate a new program called Community Emergency Response Training. The group assists the sheriff’s office with crime scenes by manning road blocks and helping set up perimeters. Towey still volunteers with the group for two days a month.

Towey was appointed to Spokane Valley’s Planning Commission in December 2007. “The Planning Commission does the legwork on some of the issues the council is faced with,” he said. But the Planning Commission only gets to make a recommendation on what the city should do. Towey said he wanted to move to the City Council so he could have a say in the final decisions.

Spokane Valley has a city manager form of government, which means the mayor does not handle the day-to-day running of the city. “My job as mayor is to represent the city,” he said.

Towey also runs the City Council meetings, but he insists he is only one of seven voices on the dais. He sees his job as making sure everyone on the council has a voice and can express his or her opinion. “I have to be the lead and represent our city,” he said. “I take that very seriously.”

His ascension to office has not been without controversy. Only minutes after he took over the reins of the City Council, he and the other council members who ran for office together on a “Positive Change” ticket voted to ask for the resignation for City Manager Dave Mercier. When asked why the motion to dismiss Mercier was added to the agenda at the last minute during the new council’s first meeting instead of waiting, Towey declined to elaborate. “I can say a lot of things, but I won’t say anything without (Mercier) being here,” he said. “It was a mutual agreement.”

The vote to dismiss Mercier was one of what will probably be many 5-2 votes pitting the Positive Change council members against Bill Gothmann and Rose Dempsey, but Towey said he has a good relationship with both. Towey ran as a write-in candidate against former council member Steve Taylor in 2007 and said that both Gothmann and Dempsey supported Towey then. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for (Gothmann),” he said. “If you want facts and you want them correct and you want them now, you go to Bill because he does his homework.”

Towey acknowledged that Gothmann did not support his most recent unopposed election campaign. “I was associated with people that didn’t support the council person he was supporting,” he said. “We kind of separated. But we’ve always been able to talk to each other.”

Towey said that Dempsey appears to be “coming out of her shell” and speaking up more at meetings. “I think she has the potential to be one of the best council members we’ve ever had.”

While the new council members may not yet have a firm grasp on what they want to do with their new power, some things are already becoming apparent. The council voted to suspend negotiations for land for a new city hall and the Sprague/Appleway Revitalization Plan is set to be a topic of discussion at this week’s council retreat.

The plan can be broken down into four parts, Towey said. The first is the extension of Appleway, which Towey supports, but the extension of the road depends on Spokane County being willing to sell the old railroad right-of-way it owns to the city. The second part is the building of a new city hall in the University City area, which Towey said should be re-evaluated. The debate over whether to keep the one-way Sprague/Appleway couplet as is or make both roads two-way is also an important element of SARP.

“Two-way I think has split our community down the middle,” Towey said. Business owners favor two-way to allow better access to their businesses, but commuters want the faster one-way option. Towey said Gothmann’s recent suggestion to put the issue on the ballot and allow the people to decide is a good one.

The biggest aspect of SARP is the zoning changes along Sprague. The changes affect 1,300 parcels, Towey said. The most important thing is for the city to create a business-friendly climate to compete against nearby cities and the state of Idaho, and also make sure the zoning changes won’t create a roadblock for business now or in the future, Towey said.