Mayor Should Be Manager, Eugster Says

Spokane doesn’t need a new city manager, says attorney Steve Eugster.

It needs a new form of government.

The chief advocate for a plan to dump the city manager’s post in favor of a strong mayor says Spokane needs a leader who can wield power.

Right now, the city manager must lobby at least four council members to get anything accomplished, Eugster says. A strong mayor could assign someone a job and expect it to get done.

“If the strong mayor doesn’t like how the department head’s performing, they could get somebody else,” he says.

A city manager hires and fires, but takes policy direction from the council. A strong mayor does both, Eugster says.

His petition initiative calls for doing away with the city manager, leaving the mayor responsible for appointing department heads.

The mayor could appoint a chief administrator to oversee day-to-day operations.

The mayor also could veto decisions made by a seven-member council, but the council could override it with five votes. Five council members would be elected by district and two elected at-large.

The strong-mayor system runs like the federal government, with the mayor as president, the council as Congress. Voters unhappy with the city’s direction could throw the mayor out of office.

Eugster’s initiative is modeled after governments in Seattle, and King and Pierce counties.

Under the plan, the mayor would earn at least $80,000 annually and no less than the highest-paid city employee. Council members would make $30,000 a year. Currently, the mayor earns $24,000 annually and council members $18,000 a year.

Foes of the plan say a city manager government is more accountable to the public.

Voters must wait four years to turn out a mayor. City managers can be fired anytime four council members aren’t happy with their performance.

Eugster is collecting signatures to get the initiative on the ballot as early as fall or as late as November 1997.

, DataTimes