County Finds New Job For Fired Planner Hasty Move Proves Costly

A planner fired a year ago by Spokane County has a new county job, plus back pay for the work he missed.

Steve Horobiowski was fired June 9, 1995, along with two other planners, in a reorganization that is proving costly for taxpayers.

County Commissioners Steve Hasson and Phil Harris said those firings would eliminate needless management and save the county nearly a quarter of a million dollars a year in annual salaries and benefits.

But one of the three was rehired less than a month later and another is suing the county for $1 million.

Hasson now says the county did not go through the correct process for firing a union employee. Rehiring Horobiowski at his old salary avoids the possibility of a lawsuit, he said.

“If you do something wrong in the first place - and that was not negotiating him out of here - then you have to make it whole,” Hasson said.

In a deal negotiated by the county and the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, Horobiowski started work Monday as a planner for the county parks department. It is a position that hasn’t been filled for at least six years.

“Most counties have a park planner. Spokane County always had set its sights on getting one, but we never could afford it,” said Fran Boxer, the county’s assistant chief administrative officer. “The parks department is thrilled to have him.”

Horobiowski retains his old salary of $53,000 a year and gets $13,000 in back pay, on top of nearly $13,000 in severance pay he received last year. Between his severance pay, back pay and money he earned working for a private company, Horobiowski has been fully compensated for his lost wages.

He also will be credited with sick leave and vacation time he would have accumulated had he not been fired.

Boxer said Horobiowski will start work immediately on a long-range plan for county parks, which is required under the state’s Growth Management Act. He’ll also apply for money to help improve existing parks, where pools are cracking and swing sets are hard to find.

“I’m glad to be back,” said Horobiowski. “I know there’s a lot of work here, and I’m glad to do it.”

The decision to bring Horobiowski back to work comes at a time when commissioners are rejecting money requests from other departments. Most recently, they told Prosecutor Jim Sweetser they won’t know until new budget figures are available whether they can fill four jobs Sweetser says are vital to continue prosecuting felons.

Sweetser stopped short of criticizing commissioners, but said it is frustrating to see a new job created when his department is wanting.

“Certainly there needs to be an investment in parks,” he said. “We also need to recognize the need to protect the safety of this community … so that people can enjoy those parks.”

Harris acknowledged union pressure forced commissioners to fill the parks position sooner than they otherwise would have. But Horobiowski wouldn’t have been hired if he wasn’t the right man for the job, he said.

“I saw a position. It had to be filled sometime,” Harris said, adding he wasn’t afraid of a lawsuit. “He was there, he was trained, he knew what he was doing and he hit the ground running.”

The planning department couldn’t spare a planner for the work because of last year’s downsizing and the demands of growth management, Harris said.

Horobiowski was a planning chief when the county planning and building departments were merged under building Director Jim Manson last year. Less than a month into the job, Manson fired Horobiowski, along with long-range planning chief John Mercer and Planning Director Wally Hubbard.

Mercer was rehired as assistant planning director a month later, when the man who held the job, Gary Fergen, resigned.

Hubbard, who was paid $16,616 in severance pay, has filed a $1 million lawsuit, alleging he was fired for refusing to break building and zoning laws. The case is set to go to court in January.

Manson said Tuesday the merger saved money, as predicted. Although the parks planner has been added, the three positions in his department remain vacant, he noted.

“There’s no longer two directors for those two divisions,” Manson said. “There’s one director. That’s an obvious savings.”

, DataTimes