If Elected Mayor, Grocery Worker Promises Good Customer Service

Sun., Oct. 19, 1997

By John Craig johnc@spokesman.com

Ron McCoy says Chewelah residents will get good customer service if they elect him mayor Nov. 4 - even if they want him to carry their groceries.

“Customer service is what I’ve done for 20 years, and I think a mayor’s job is customer service-oriented,” said McCoy, 40, who is fourth in charge at the local Safeway store.

“The customer comes first. I’ll carry out anybody’s groceries if they need that.”

Like his opponent, newspaper columnist Lew Arnold, McCoy has run for office before, but has never been elected.

McCoy was eliminated in a mayoral primary in Republic, where he lived before moving to Chewelah four years ago.

He made a strong showing in the 1995 general election for a Chewelah City Council position that Lew Valkenaar won.

In this year’s three-way mayoral primary, McCoy out-polled incumbent Mayor Gloria Davidson and finished six votes behind Arnold. Davidson now supports McCoy.

Arnold and McCoy agree that the primary may have been a de facto referendum on City Administrator Bill Provost. Arnold promises to fire Provost, but McCoy promises only to learn the ropes of government.

“I never start a job with the intention of cutting my right arm off before I see what my left arm can do,” McCoy said. “I’ve told people on the street that if the only reason they want me is to fire Bill Provost, then they don’t need to vote for me.”

While Arnold worries that Provost has too much influence, McCoy wants more opportunities for children - a roller rink, a teen center or a skateboard park - and jobs waiting when they become adults.

McCoy is youth deacon for St. Paul Lutheran Church. He and his wife, Victoria, have three adopted children.

In Republic, he was assistant manager for the Big Gib Thrift supermarket. McCoy said his parents urged him to move north from Spokane County, where he grew up, but Republic proved “a little bit far.”

He has worked for Safeway most of his life, starting at age 16.

Unwilling to go to summer school to make up classes, he failed to graduate from Medical Lake High School.

Later, he earned a general equivalency diploma as a petty officer first class in the Navy.

He also studied retail management at Spokane Falls Community College, and served in the Naval Reserves until August 1996.

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