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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Popular County Worker Loses Job Budget Blues Led To His Pink Slip

Spokane County employees are protesting the dismissal of an award-winning colleague.

Today is Art Keinath’s last in charge of county-owned parking lots and employee commuting. In August, he was one of 44 Washington residents recognized by the state Public Transportation and Rail Conference for “excellent” efforts to reduce traffic.

Earlier this month, 175 county employees signed petitions asking county commissioners to reinstate Keinath. Union and state officials, and county Commissioner John Roskelley also are concerned by the dismissal.

“I want you to know, Art, I did everything in my power to change what has taken place,” Roskelley wrote in an e-mail message to Keinath.

Keinath’s $28,000 salary is covered by the $10 a month county employees pay for parking. His position is being eliminated to help balance the budget in the county’s human resources department, department head Ben Duncan said.

The budget will be $63,000 smaller in 1998 than in 1997, and cutting Keinath’s position will help make up the difference, Duncan said.

County commissioners didn’t say which employee to cut when they reduced the budget. But Duncan said Keinath’s position is the most logical.

Another manager, in charge of employee training, will add Keinath’s duties to his own. Some of the money saved will go into parking lot improvements, Duncan said.

“I don’t see the program changing,” Duncan said.

The state Legislature has mandated that large employers take steps to encourage their employees to leave their cars at home and find new ways to get to work.

Aurora Crooks, who monitors employers’ efforts within the county to reduce the use of cars, said the county was not meeting state-mandated reductions when Duncan’s predecessor hired Keinath in 1995.

This year, the county was one of only 11 large employers countywide who obtained their commute-trip-reduction goals, said Crooks, who in August sent Keinath a congratulatory letter.

Crooks said she worries Keinath’s dismissal will stall the program.

“Spokane County as an employee should set an example for all the other employers countywide,” she said.

In addition to monitoring employees’ commuting habits, Keinath manages parking lots and meters near the courthouse. The county has far more employees than it has parking spaces; in fact, some employees have been on a waiting list for parking spaces since 1984, Duncan recently told commissioners.

In response to the parking problems, the county in 1995 formed a parking committee comprised of employees, union representatives and county officials.

Union representative Bill Keenan said Keinath’s dismissal violates a 1996 parking agreement between the commissioners and the committee.

Committee members “request that you reinstate the parking manager,” Keenan wrote in a letter to Duncan.

Duncan contends the agreement doesn’t require the county to keep the position.

County commissioners in recent weeks directed the parking committee to determine whether a private company could run the lots more efficiently. Some employees worry that would lead to an increase in parking fees.

Keenan said the county must negotiate any new fees with unions that represent the workers. Duncan said state law isn’t clear on the matter, and commissioners may be able to raise fees - if that becomes necessary - without negotiations.

Although he voted for the final county budget, Roskelley said he negotiated unsuccessfully to restore enough money to keep Keinath employed, fearing that progress made toward reducing traffic will be lost.

“Unfortunately, I’m only one vote,” he wrote to Keinath.

Keinath isn’t the only county employee to lose his job during recent budget talks. The position of golf course manager was eliminated, for instance, and the public works department is eliminating several building inspectors due to a slowdown in construction.

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