New Leader Puts A Premium On Consistency And Stability

Michael Butler will take over as administrator of the Hutton Settlement when Robert Revel retires at the end of the month.

Butler, who has served as assistant administrator under Revel for the last seven years, will become only the fourth administrator in the settlement’s storied 76-year history.

Butler said he expects Hutton Settlement to continue on its present course, changing only as the times dictate.

“Change isn’t what the Hutton Settlement is about,” Butler said. “I don’t think change is necessarily good for children and families.

“I think children need to feel that consistency, that stability.”

High on Butler’s list of priorities will be to maintain the financial stability his predecessors have worked so hard to build.

Hutton Settlement holdings “more than doubled” during Revel’s reign as administrator.

Revel leaves Butler in control of a real estate portfolio containing properties in Spokane valued at $14 million by the Spokane County assessor’s office. Major holdings include the Hutton Settlement campus itself, the Itronix building on the lower South Hill and the former Safeway building at Division and Wellesley that is being remodeled for Office Depot.

The $600,000 annual cost of operating the children’s home is still covered entirely by income from the Hutton Settlement’s real estate holdings.

Butler, 44, was born in Longview, Wa. He graduated from Portland State University with a degree in sociology in 1973 and received a master’s degree in education from the University of Portland in 1978.

Prior to coming to the Hutton Settlement, Butler spent 10 years as executive director of the Toutle River Boys Ranch, which was destroyed by a mud slide triggered by the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. Butler led the reconstruction of the 38-bed facility, which reopened in 1982.

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