Miggins Says He’S Nobody’S Puppet ‘I’M Not The Headhunter,’ Says City Manager Before First Day

Henry Miggins arrived in Spokane on Sunday with clothes, a calendar and a biography of former President Jimmy Carter.

He didn’t bring an ax.

“I’m not the headhunter that some people think I am. I’m not coming in to rip the place apart,” Miggins said. “I’m coming in to do the job of city manager, to work to transition to the strong mayor.”

Throwing water on a wildfire of rumors - including that he plans to ransack City Hall - is just one task lying before Miggins as he takes over today as Spokane’s city manager.

He has to find a place to live. He has to meet his employees, beginning with the secretary he has spoken to only by telephone. He has to learn how the city works. And he has to begin putting together a plan to move the city to a strong mayor form of government.

It’s a formidable job, but Miggins promises he’s ready. He said he plans to move carefully, even methodically, in these first days and weeks, getting to know the layout before moving anything around.

“I’m analyzing and evaluating,” he said. “I’m letting those tools be my guide.”

Miggins’ desire to go slowly may come as welcome news at City Hall, which is recovering from the jarring news earlier this month that former acting City Manager Pete Fortin was out and Miggins was in.

A council majority of Mayor John Talbott, Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers and the two newest members, Steve Corker and Steve Eugster, hired Miggins over the protest of council members Phyllis Holmes, Roberta Greene and Rob Higgins.

Speculation flew that the guy from Portland would be the council’s puppet, mindlessly doing whatever he was told. Miggins finds the depiction laughable.

“If anybody’s looking for a yes man, they need to keep looking,” he said Sunday.

But then, he said, he’s recently heard a lot of things about himself he has difficulty meshing with what he knows to be true.

“A lot of people are saying things about Hank Miggins that don’t sound like Hank Miggins, like the unqualified-dog-catcher stuff,” he said. “Now, they get a chance to meet me.”

Miggins said his resume proves he’s more than ready for the job. He spent 18 years in Portland working at various levels of government, from Multnomah County’s internal auditor to executive assistant for the chairwoman of that county’s five-person commission.

Miggins’ last job was as director of Multnomah County’s Animal Control, a position he left in November. Miggins said he was fired after being made the scapegoat for an unpopular tax proposal. His boss said he was asked to retire during a restructuring of the department.

A Mississippi native, Miggins served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force. He finished his career at Fairchild Air Force Base, where he met Edward Thomas Jr., a close friend of Talbott’s.

After leaving the service, Miggins served as vice president for financial affairs at Fort Wright College, where he met Corker, a college trustee who was elected last fall to the City Council.

His links to Spokane helped bring him to the attention of some City Council members, who wanted a leadership change at City Hall.

But his kind of change isn’t something to be feared, Miggins said, adding he has no grand scheme for how things should go.

“I’m hoping no one’s expecting some detailed plan about what I’m going to do,” he said. “I understand there are fears about change … I’ve got to meet with managers and let them get to know me and find out the direction we want to go.

“It’s not me, but we. We need to be a team.”

After a quiet dinner of pork chops and rice with Thomas on Sunday, Miggins planned to spend the evening reading and getting ready for today. He’d heard countless times from friends and acquaintances that he’ll be walking into a lion’s den.

“Well, I guess I won’t know until I get in the lion’s den and find out how big it is, but I’ve never shied away from things like that,” Miggins said. “I may be foolish, but I think I can deal with that.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: First day

Henry Miggins’ first day on the job as Spokane’s city manager will include a 6 p.m. City Council meeting in the council chambers at City Hall. He’ll also be introduced at a 2 p.m. press conference at City Hall.