Task Force Will Review City Charter Recommendations Could Go To Vote Next Fall

Spokane residents who rejected a chance to change city government on Tuesday may get another opportunity next year.

Responding to the healthy support given the strong-mayor proposal, the City Council on Friday asked a citizens group to spend four or five months studying the city charter.

Any changes recommended by Spokane Community Partners would go on the ballot in September or November 1997, Mayor Jack Geraghty said during a news conference Friday.

Two Community Partners members in attendance said they are confident the assignment will be accepted.

The group includes 30 city residents selected to help set priorities for the 1996 budget.

That experience helped give them the education needed to suggest charter changes, said co-chair Elinor Magnuson.

On Tuesday, voters defeated a plan to replace the city manager with a mayor who would serve as the top administrator. About 44 percent of voters favored the initiative.

It was the latest in a long string of failed attempts over the last 20 years to make significant changes to the charter.

The next attempt will come Nov. 5, when city voters will decide whether to limit council members to missing four consecutive meetings - a proposal sparked by Councilman Chris Anderson’s three-month absence.

Anderson was the only council member missing from Friday’s news conference.

His colleagues suggested a number of changes Community Partners might consider. Among them: eliminating the Civil Service system; reducing the frequency of council meetings; and electing some or all council members by district.

While no one mentioned adopting a strong mayor, Geraghty said “everything’s on the table.”

Steve Eugster, the Spokane attorney whose petition drive sparked the strong mayor vote, said he plans to bring back the initiative for another vote next fall. It’s possible that conflicting charter proposals could appear on the same ballot.

Eugster called Friday’s announcement “exciting. This is good stuff. … It is gratifying that those of us who were in favor (of the strong-mayor proposal) have gotten the attention of the people in City Hall.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SMALLER CHANGES The charter also could use some smaller changes. For instance, one long-ignored chapter calls for giving married men preference over unmarried men for job openings. Such favoritism is banned by state and federal laws.