Spokane County commissioners could choose new CEO Tuesday

Feuding Spokane County commissioners could name a new county chief executive as early as Tuesday after an abbreviated recruitment process.

Commissioner Todd Mielke called for a special meeting at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss a replacement for outgoing CEO Marshall Farnell, who said he’ll leave by the end of the year.

Farnell has been with the county for more than four decades and planned to retire this summer, but he has remained in office amid growing conflicts pitting Mielke and Commissioner Shelly O’Quinn against Commissioner Al French.

French and Mielke declined to comment on the specifics of what was likely to unfold Tuesday.

“At this point, I don’t have a really good feel” for what could happen Tuesday, Mielke said.

French, who declined in June to cast the deciding vote that would have named Mielke as Farnell’s successor, said he’s been left out of what Mielke called a “directed recruitment.” That process involved Farnell approaching potential candidates – handpicked by commissioners – to gauge their interest, Mielke said.

Two resumes have been circulated to the commissioners for review, Mielke said. Tuesday’s meeting could be a discussion of those candidates’ qualifications or a decision to post the job opening again, he added.

French said he took the meeting notice as a signal his fellow commissioners had already made up their minds without him.

“At this point, I can only assume that Todd and Shelly have made a decision about what they’re going to do,” French said.

Mielke said the meeting was requested by O’Quinn because the commissioners will soon be traveling and unable to act collectively on a hiring process.

“We’re watching months fly off the calendar,” Mielke said.

O’Quinn wasn’t immediately available for comment Monday.

Mielke and O’Quinn have said they plan to name a permanent replacement as soon as possible.

The commission is not under any legal constraints to conduct an open recruitment process, like the one that ended in a stalemate earlier this year, Mielke and O’Quinn have said.

In a meeting earlier this month, Mielke told Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers he was unsure if people would want to serve on another selection committee, given the outcome of the first. The congresswoman had inquired about the executive recruitment.

The commissioners could handpick a replacement, much like Spokane Mayor David Condon did when he selected Theresa Sanders to serve as his administrator in City Hall. Mielke said at the meeting he’d want somebody with knowledge of county government and the community.

John Roskelley, who campaigned against Mielke in a bitter 2012 election and served nine years on the Spokane County Commission, said he “couldn’t imagine” naming a permanent replacement to the CEO position with a search limited to the Spokane area. The county CEO oversees an annual budget of roughly $440 million.

“Conceivably, there are some people in Spokane who could do the job,” Roskelley said. But he favored hiring a headhunter to identify suitable candidates.

French also proposed using a headhunter after the first search ended up with Mielke as its top choice.

But Mielke said headhunters used by the Spokane Regional Health District and the Spokane International Airport Board produced fewer candidates than the business-leader panel the county used.

French said many of those candidates identified by the panel for the Spokane County CEO job did not meet minimum qualifications.

Mielke said he expects Tuesday’s meeting to begin in open session but wouldn’t rule out the possibility of discussing handpicked candidates’ qualifications.