Public Periscope

Flush with good news

Relief is coming for women who frequent the second floor of the Spokane County Courthouse: County commissioners agreed last week to spend $22,380 to expand a women’s restroom used by employees and the public. The money comes from a portion of the real estate excise tax that is set aside for courthouse improvements. … The restroom reportedly has inadequate ventilation and provides little privacy. Two of the three stalls “are so small that only a 90-pound contortionist would be comfortable using them,” one employee wrote in a memo to Commissioner Kate McCaslin. … The problem is a result of poor design - but not sexism. Periscope can verify the men’s restroom on the same floor also was designed for contortionists.

Do the roads seem less crowded to you?

Spokane County’s commute-trip reduction office reports that workers for 74 companies and public agencies drove 10 percent fewer miles in 1997 than in 1993. The office knows this because large employers are required to keep track of such statistics - and encourage workers to shorten their commutes - under a 1991 state law. … Last year, Spokane County employers enrolled in the program did better than those in any of the eight other counties required to keep track.

An extra 10 spot for the grief

Members of the county Board of Equalization are getting their first pay increase since 1970. But it’s doubtful anyone joins the panel for the money. … When the board meets, as it does most Mondays, members hear complaints from citizens angry about their taxes. Board members now earn $60, up from $50.

Oops!

Laurie DeVarney, the city’s communication director, called to say “Periscope” was wrong last week in an item about fired code enforcement officer Terry Clegg. … She said we erroneously implied that editors of the city’s internal newsletter might have felt chagrined that they had wished Clegg a happy retirement when he later was fired for sexually harassing an intern. … DeVarney said the newsletter came out after Clegg had been fired and the editor - who is DeVarney - wasn’t chagrined at all by offering good wishes to someone who’d been ousted. … We’re happy to clear that up.

Seen on the street

If your license tabs are red, you’ve got problems. It’s a sign of the times - specifically, that your time has run out for paying the taxes to renew the tabs. Tabs expiring in 1998 are green; 1999 tabs, which will become more common as time goes by, are black.

A chance to speak up

The state Department of Ecology is taking comments through Feb. 12 on a plan to cap the old Greenacres landfill. A copy of the plan can be reviewed at the agency’s Spokane office at 4601 N. Monroe. … Capping the landfill, which was closed in 1972, is expected to cost state and county taxpayers $5 million. Tests in 1978 indicated the landfill was tainting ground water; the county and state needed 20 years to agree on a solution. County officials long have contended that capping the dump is overkill.

Getting involved

The city is looking to fill one vacancy each on the Chase Youth Commission, the Sister Cities Association directors board and the Arts Commission as well as three spots each on the Human Services Advisory Board and the Human Rights Commission. Applications are available in the mayor’s office, 5th Floor, City Hall.

, DataTimes MEMO: “Public Periscope,” published weekly, is compiled by Jim Camden from staff reports. You can contact us by mail c/o The Spokesman-Review, Box 2160, Spokane 99210; by fax at (509) 459-5482 or by e-mail at jimc@spokesman.com.

This sidebar appeared with the story: HOT TOPICS Tuesday: Residents of Rockford and surrounding areas can ask Commissioner Kate McCaslin questions about roads and other county issues. 6:30 p.m., Rockford Town Hall, 20 W. Emma.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by Jim Camden from staff reports.