Media Relations Job Can’t Be Contracted Requires Full-Time Employee, Civil Service Commission Rules

A private contractor can’t be in charge of media relations for the Spokane Police Department because it violates the city’s charter.

That’s the word from the Civil Service Commission, which ruled last week the job currently being done by media consultant Dick Cottam must be filled with a full-time city employee.

“All positions in the city - except those exempt by the charter - are supposed to be filled by a fair, competitive process,” said Civil Service Chief Examiner Harvey Harden.

Acting City Manager Bill Pupo called the decision “costly,” adding he plans to appeal the ruling.

“This affects our ability to contract for things like animal control,” Pupo said. “Everything we contract with could be considered classified.”

Cottam, a former news reporter, became the department’s media liaison in 1994, when former spokesman Lt. Bob Van Leuven took over the office of professional standards.

The police guild filed a complaint with the Civil Service last year claiming that Cottam was doing a job historically filled by an officer.

Union officials said they didn’t care if the job went to an officer but that it should be filled through a competitive process.

“Citizens as taxpayers should be able to compete for those jobs,” Harden said, adding the city can hire a person on a contract only for a specified period of time.

“This is not a contract position. There is no completion date,” he said. “This is just ongoing work.”

Cottam was out of town Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

Police Chief Terry Mangan said the City Council recently voted to extend Cottam’s three-year contract for another two years.

Several consultants bid for the job three years ago when Cottam was chosen, Mangan said.

He added the Civil Service decision sets a dangerous precedent.

The police department has “literally hundreds of contracts, from consultant contracts to computer maintenance contracts,” Mangan said. “To envision the possibility that civil service can classify anything it decides to seems to be far beyond the scope.”

Harden said his department recognizes the need to contract jobs that only are needed occasionally.

For example, he said, “We contract out city window work because we don’t have enough windows to keep a window worker busy all the time.”

Civil Service currently is drafting a job description and establishing minimum requirements.

After that, the media relations job will be filled competitively.

, DataTimes