He Could Have Been Contender Touted As Possible City Manager, Official Nick Dragisich Jumps Ship

Spokane’s assistant city manager for operations, Nick Dragisich, is resigning even as he is being touted as a candidate for city manager.

Dragisich, who oversees Spokane’s planning and engineering services, joined the city in 1998. His last day will be Wednesday.

The resignation is one of dozens to sweep through the city since last November’s elections, in which voters approved a strong mayor form of government.

Although Dragisich’s stated ambition was to one day become Spokane city manager, he said he quit due to the city’s current instability and a desire to rejoin his family in Minnesota.

Despite Dragisich’s resignation, which was submitted Dec. 15, City Councilman Steve Eugster has trumpeted Dragisich as a possible city manager to take over for acting city manager Pete Fortin.

The City Council on Tuesday voted to begin a search for a new city manager, although the position will be eliminated at the end of the year when the strong-mayor change takes effect.

Eugster still believes Dragisich might take the job.

“I think he can be tempted,” Eugster said. “He’s an ambitious young man and this is a fantastic opportunity for him.”

It’s unclear whether Eugster could muster the necessary four votes to install Dragisich immediately.

Eugster believes the new city manager should be actively involved in reorganizing the city government in advance of the new mayor. In June, Dragisich drafted a reorganization plan that would eliminate 12 jobs and two departments.

Dragisich, 46, said he wouldn’t rule out returning to Spokane for the city manager’s job, even though he has accepted another position in Minnesota.

“I would weigh that out really carefully,” he said. “The chance of being city manager would make that a real difficult decision.”

The City Council is to discuss the city manager position at its Jan. 31 meeting.

Other candidates would include Fortin, who would have to move into the city from his Chattaroy home to accept the full-time position, and Henry Miggins, the director of Animal Control of Multnomah County, Ore. Mayor John Talbott has suggested Miggins as a candidate.

In Dragisich’s absence, city operations will be overseen by Gale Olrich, the director of the wastewater management department.

Olrich had intended to take early retirement but was convinced to stay on and fill in for Dragisich, said Fortin.

“Nick and I asked him to take this job, which I greatly appreciate,” Fortin said. “At this point, I would expect him to retire in the next couple of years.”

A Minnesota native, Dragisich is taking a job with a St. Paul public finance firm. He is also rejoining his wife and children, who never moved to Spokane.

Although he said his goal was to become city manager, Dragisich said he began looking for other jobs when the strong-mayor initiative was introduced. Under the strong-mayor form of government, the position of city manager will be eliminated at the end of the year.

“I have three children and the youngest is a 16-year-old daughter,” Dragisich said. “I’m not going to move my daughter from high school and 11 months later, move her again.”

Dragisich took over in July of 1998 from Phil Williams, who was fired by then-City Manager Bill Pupo.

Dragisich has had a stormy employment history, mostly relating to his position as city administrator of Virgina, Minn., which he held from 1987 to 1996.

In 1991, he was named, along with four Virgina City Council members, in a sex discrimination lawsuit, which was later settled.

In the mid-1990s, he filed a number of grievances against the city of Virginia over a reorganization plan he claimed was designed to remove him. He also filed a lawsuit against the Virgina mayor and a councilman, which he settled, and a libel suit against a local newspaper, which was dismissed.