Jonathan Brunt

The terminated director of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture has declined an offer to go away quietly. Last week, an attorney representing the MAC board offered the museum’s former director, Forrest Rodgers, two months of pay and a letter of recommendation if he didn’t sue and signed a “non-disparagement” agreement. The board also for the first time outlined reasons he was fired, including “poor performance.”

The two leading candidates for Washington governor debated for the first time on Tuesday and agreed that new taxes aren’t needed to improve schools. But they disagreed on most other points, including education, in the hourlong debate at the Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane.

The board that leads the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture is under new leadership, but the fate of its recently terminated director remained unclear after a two-hour private board session on Wednesday. Bruce Howard, who was elected president of the board at the start of the meeting, said he will appoint by Monday a three-person task force to deal with the controversial firing of Forrest Rodgers.

Change could be afoot among those leading the embattled Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. The museum’s board of trustees meets today and will consider a slate of new board officers, according to a meeting agenda released by the MAC on Tuesday.

Spokane Arts Director Karen Mobley says that by the end of the year she’ll likely be out of a job.    Her bosses won’t go that far. Nothing has been finalized, they say.    But the preliminary city arts budget staked out for 2013 doesn’t include enough to pay for Mobley, and plans are being made to instead give a smaller amount – less than half of what the city currently spends on the arts – to a nonprofit arts group.

Spokane Mayor David Condon has assembled his team. At a news conference Friday he announced several changes in leadership and shifts at City Hall that he said finalizes changes to his leadership team – at least for a bit.

Spokane was the first city in Washington to create a program to ensure customers got what they paid for. But with another budget shortfall to fix, city leaders are proposing to eliminate their one-man Weights and Measures Department and let the state take over. Money for the city program isn’t included in the preliminary 2013 budget drafted by city administrators.

Five months into term, Condon has picked his team

On its face, moving inmates from the Spokane County jail system to a jail in Kennewick solves big problems. In the short term, local governments would save hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time when they’re continuing to deal with difficult budget decisions.

Members of the Museum of Arts and Culture board appear to be digging in for a protracted battle with other supporters of the financially strapped institution. They gave little sign on Wednesday that they will reverse their controversial decision to fire its executive director as donors, museum members, volunteers and artists warned that they may withdraw support for the MAC without resignations from the board, reinstatement of the fired director or at the least an explanation for why he was fired.