Lucky Bill Isn’T Bitter, Just Saddened

The luckiest man in Spokane scans the menu in a downtown restaurant, looking for a pasta dish.

Finding one, he tells the waitress, “I’ll try the shrimp thing,” and then leans back in his chair.

Bill Pupo is looking relaxed these days. Why shouldn’t he?

He’s back from a fascinating 2-1/2 weeks in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. Pupo toured three cities there on behalf of the International City/County Management Association.

His decision last July to resign as Spokane’s city manager must now seem like hitting the lottery.

Feeling heat from a string of minor controversies, Pupo left with his pride mostly intact. The fat severance package didn’t hurt either.

He has escaped the recent bloodletting that has made city management about as desirable as walking barefoot through a basement full of black widows.

Pupo was gone three months when voters put Spokane on track for a strong mayor form of government.

That election also added Steve Eugster and Steve Corker to the council, giving the critics of the status quo a 4-3 voting edge.

Longtime department heads and middle managers have been jumping ship faster than Titanic passengers.

But try to tell Pupo how lucky he is to be floating in a life raft, safely away from the doomed ship SS City Hall. “I don’t feel lucky,” he responds, shaking his head. “I really feel saddened.”

Pupo adds that he is genuinely “shocked” by the treatment of “professional public sector managers. My question is: Why do people feel there are so many things wrong with Spokane?”

Particularly noisome is the ouster of his replacement, Pete Fortin. The acting city manager was shown the door last week, thanks to the aforementioned spiders: council members Corker, Eugster, Cherie Rodgers and Mayor John Talbott.

In a memorably venomous display, Fortin was voted out 4-3; Henry Miggins of Oregon was voted in. A former animal-control director, Miggins is a Corker crony from decades back.

“That’s not how you go about selecting a city manager,” Pupo says, adding that there should be a professional process.

“Who would want to work in that (environment)? Look at the people who have left. That oughta tell you something.”

On Tuesday, Mike Kobluk, the highly regarded head of Spokane’s entertainment facilities, became the latest to call it quits.

No one will accuse Pupo of being a flame thrower. He’s looking for another job in city or county management and doesn’t want any future employers spooked by careless comments.

But Pupo’s points are on target when he makes them. Asked what he thinks of Councilman Eugster’s self-appointed role as Spokane’s Strong Brayer form of government, he responds:

“I’d think he’d conduct himself more diplomatically. Maybe it’s an intoxication of power.”

He’s quick to add, however, that Spokane’s struggles pale when put into a global perspective. During his trip to Kazakhstan, Pupo encountered a country struggling with primordial democracy. The average wage there, he says, is $35 a month.

Pupo visited the cities of Almaty, Atyrau and Pavlodar. He investigated each community’s particular needs for technical assistance. The idea is to match those cities with cities in the United States that have dealt with similar challenges.

If there is any bitterness in Pupo, it doesn’t show.

He’s proud of what he helped accomplish here. He’s as much of a booster for downtown’s controversial River Park Square project as he ever was.

“It’ll be a crown jewel,” he says. “Other cities around the country would kill to have something like that.”

There’s no reason to be negative, the town’s luckiest man says. “I have a great deal of optimism for Spokane. It just needs to be put back on course.”