Airway Heights Administrator Faces Challenges In/Around: Airway Heights

Gordon Howell, who took over as city administrator in Airway Heights in July, has no shortage of work to do.

Airway Heights is adjusting to growth from new businesses, homes and an expanded state prison.

“The learning curve is very steep,” Howell said this week.

Howell, 39, was appointed to the position by Mayor Brian Grady after former Administrator Mike Patterson left for a similar post in College Place, Wash., last winter.

Howell was hired by Patterson in 1997 as the city planner. Prior to that, he held a temporary planning job with the city of Spokane for two years.

Patterson said he believes Howell was a good choice as his replacement.

Now, Howell is overseeing development of a sewer system on the north side of town. He is also involved in planning for future construction of a new 500,000-gallon water tower.

A proposal by the Kalispel Tribe to build a casino in Airway Heights has been on the back burner in the months since it won approval from the governor in June. Meetings are continuing on the casino proposal, he said.

Howell and other city leaders are coming up with new programs for the community center, which the city took over earlier this year after the center encountered financial problems. It previously was run by a non-profit organization.

Howell said the city plans to hire a new community recreation manager who would oversee the center as well as city recreation programs, which operate out of the center.

The center has a new 3,000-square-foot addition. Howell said program offerings at the center will be increasing in coming months.

Early childhood education programs are about to start there.

City officials are hoping to restore block grant money from the county that had been going to the center prior to its problems with inadequate accounting.

Airway Heights has a population of 4,300, nearly double the number four years ago. Part of the population growth is due to the 6-year-old state prison, which houses nearly 2,100 inmates.

The presence of the prison has brought a need for more homes for prison staffers. Some inmate families have moved to Airway Heights, too.

Airway Heights has set aside undeveloped land for industrial and commercial growth and has been drawing new employers.

“This is a good community for industrial growth and commercial growth,” Howell said.

Howell, a lifelong resident of Spokane County, holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Redlands University in California. He has a master’s degree in urban planning from Eastern Washington University, which he finished in 1995.

Howell spent 15 years managing a retail clothing store in downtown Spokane before switching to a public service career.