Panel Will Review Strong Mayor Plan City Manager Offers Revisions For Draft Of Government Reorganization Plan

A plan for transforming Spokane city government for the transition to strong mayor is moving from the city manager back to the City Council.

After sketching out a rough draft, the City Council transition committee submitted it last month to City Manager Hank Miggins and a team of city department heads for fine-tuning.

The transition committee will weigh Miggins’ modifications in a meeting Tuesday.

“I expect they will have quite a discussion,” Miggins said.

There are a number of significant differences between the rough draft the City Council started with at its Feb. 5 retreat and Miggins’ model.

In the council’s model, there would be five main departments reporting to the new strong mayor. In Miggins’ plan, the number would be increased to eight divisions, with an emphasis placed on keeping similar duties together.

That would mean splitting the current operations department into two: a planning and community services department and a public works department.

Councilman Steve Corker, who chairs the transition committee, said the moves made sense.

“In terms of alignment and description, this is a lot clearer,” Corker said.

Miggins’ plan also puts the Parks and Recreation Department under a larger culture and recreation division, instead of reporting directly to the mayor, as in the council’s proposal.

Corker noted that in that plan the parks director would be under three supervisors: the division head, a city administrator and the mayor. Another difference is a shift in where a number of small departments and boards report.

In the council’s model, the Arts Commission, the Human Services Department, and the offices of Historic Preservation and Neighborhood Services would report to the City Council.

Miggins has moved them under the strong mayor.

The council’s argument had been that because the departments have very small staffs and are dependent on community interaction, they should report to the council, which will have closer ties to the community.

“I disagree,” Miggins said. “Those are functional areas where the mayor should have oversight.”

But Corker said he wants neighborhood services, and the numerous neighborhood councils, reporting to the City Council.

“I think it’s a political concern more than administration,” he said. “I really want to have that interaction and accountability with the neighborhoods through the council and council districts.”

As part of the transition, Miggins also has been charged with defining the role of an internal auditor, which would serve as a government watchdog.

The position, which Spokane doesn’t have now, has been regarded as critical to the strong mayor form of government, allowing the council to objectively scrutinize the administration.

Miggins served in the internal auditors office in Multnomah County, Ore.

“An internal auditor is less about dollars and cents than it is about effectiveness,” he said. “Fraud, waste and abuse.”

Miggins has assembled an ad hoc committee made up of local accountants and business people to help shape the parameters of the office. They should make their recommendations in about 30 days after their first meeting, which has yet to be scheduled, he said.