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

Valley closes door on manager search

Interview session Wednesday breaks with tradition

The Spokane Valley City Council will be interviewing candidates for city manager during an executive session Wednesday, but the city is refusing to say who or even how many people are being interviewed.

Conducting interviews in a closed door executive session is allowed by state law. The city is following the law by not releasing the names of job applicants, but it is violating a precedent set by the city and other governmental agencies to let the public know who is being considered.

In 2003, the newly formed city released the names of its five finalists for the city manager position two weeks before Dave Mercier was selected, and it hosted a reception for city residents to meet all five finalists.

Under Spokane Valley’s city manager form of government, the manager has the power to hire and fire employees, as well as approve contracts of up to $200,000 on his or her own authority.

In 2006, the city announced the names of three finalists being considered for Spokane Valley police chief a full three months before a selection was made.

When the Central Valley School District selected a new superintendent in 2008 the district released the names of the seven semifinalists and the three finalists. The district also released the full résumés of all seven semifinalists and held meetings so the public could meet the candidates.

Similar procedures were followed when East Valley School District and Spokane Public Schools selected their most recent superintendents.

Assistant city attorney Cary Driskell said it is up to the council to decide when to release the names of the finalists. “We have not notified the applicants for public employment that we may release their names to the media,” he said. “We need to respect their privacy at this point.”

Driskell said he is not sure when the applicants will be asked for permission to release their names.

The city has been keeping a tight lid on anything to do with the candidate search since the council voted to handle the process itself. The only information that has been released is that 26 people submitted applications.

Last week’s notice of the special meeting said that the executive session set for 7 a.m. Wednesday at CenterPlace would be to “evaluate qualifications of applicants for public employment” with no mention of interviews.

The city is also refusing to release the number of applicants being interviewed, which would not violate any state privacy laws. “We don’t believe we can release that information,” said human resources director John Whitehead, who is helping lead the candidate search.

The city manager position became empty when Mercier was asked by the new City Council to resign during its first meeting in January. Deputy city manager Mike Jackson was named interim city manager in February.