Spokane Valley councilman wants to slash $2 million from sheriff’s contract

Spokane Valley City Councilman Ed Pace wants to cut $2 million from the police contract with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, and he wants a police chief who’s an employee of the city.

Pace, in a list of “goals” for the city’s contract with the Sheriff’s Office released Friday, also said he wants the $17.5 million-a-year contract limited to two years, not the current four-year term.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Pace’s suggestion that the department be led by a city employee is “a deal breaker right there.”

Pace, he said, is “suggesting you replace an elected official with a bureaucrat. That runs against anything Pace says he stands for.”

Pace refers to himself as a constitutionalist, a libertarian, a Tea Party Patriot and a supporter of state Rep. Matt Shea, whose slogan “Less tax, less government, more freedom” Pace frequently quotes from the council dais.

Pace said Monday that he’s not afraid to overhaul the city’s contract for police services with the Sheriff’s Office – an arrangement that’s been in place since Valley incorporation.

“We may have to redo the entire system to get a chief that is hired by the city,” he said in an interview Monday.

Knezovich also said a two-year contract would make hiring nearly impossible and lead to continuous uncertainty.

“If you go to two years, then you are constantly negotiating,” Knezovich said. “You will never get stability. You will agree on one contract, then immediately start negotiating the next one.”

Another of Pace’s goals: that all police vehicles patrolling Spokane Valley should be painted ice blue, and that Valley deputies should wear “distinctive dark blue uniforms with police shields.”

Knezovich said he’s frustrated with Pace, one of a group of four council members who typically vote in a bloc; two members who frequently voted in the minority recently quit the council.

The sheriff takes Pace’s statements seriously, he said, because he was told by Mike Jackson, who was recently fired as Spokane Valley city manager, that Pace has the council votes to get rid of the policing contract.

“This is no way to go about negotiating a contract,” Knezovich said. “I’ve addressed all his points with the council many times.”

Knezovich met with Mayor Rod Higgins and Deputy Mayor Arne Woodard on Monday morning.

Higgins said after the meeting that Knezovich “was quite exercised” about Pace’s proposals, but that Pace’s goals don’t reflect those of the Spokane Valley City Council and that people sometimes confuse Pace’s statements with the council’s agenda.

“Ed Pace is a free thinker. I don’t think any of us have any control over what he says,” Higgins said. “Let me say this again: We do not want out of the contract.”

Higgins added that the city must be vigilant about its contracts to make sure it gets what it’s paying for, and that the contract shouldn’t automatically roll over every four years, as it has in the past.

Pace said to be fiscally responsible the city should have at least two bidders for every contract, including law enforcement, and mentioned the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and the Spokane Police Department as potential other bidders for law enforcement.

Knezovich said he’s seen the suggested $2 million budget cut before and that it stems from a false allegation that Spokane Valley is being overbilled. He said cutting $2 million from the budget could result in the loss of 20 deputies from the Spokane Valley force.

But Pace said “it’s just a number” and a sum that would be nice to have around for Spokane Valley capital projects.

A 2014 cost comparison compiled by Spokane Valley staff shows that Spokane Valley pays $17.5 million for law enforcement for a population of 92,050. That’s $190 per resident, which is less than Yakima at $259, Kennewick at $213 and Bellingham at $296.

As for the color of Spokane Valley police vehicles, Pace said it means something to city identity.

Knezovich said he’s fine with painting the vehicles in Spokane Valley colors, but he needs to know how high a priority that and matching uniforms is to the City Council so the cost can be worked into a potential contract.

“I don’t understand why they keep pushing the uniforms,” Knezovich said. “The cost far outweighs the practicality there.”