Park Board Overhaul Advocated Eugster Wants Members To Be Elected; Others Say That Would Politicize Panel

Complaining that the Spokane Park Board is detached from the needs of Spokane residents, Councilman Steve Eugster is proposing the 11-member board be replaced with five elected commissioners.

The plan would require a city charter amendment and a vote of the people. Eugster wants the City Council to place the plan on the November ballot.

“The Park Board is institutionalized and has its agenda and no one else’s,” Eugster said. “They are a government in a government.”

The Park Board is appointed by the mayor with the consent of the City Council. One council member also serves on the board.

Unlike most other city boards, the Park Board controls its own budget, which, by city charter, is at least 8 percent of the general fund budget every year. This year, $12 million has been budgeted for parks and recreation.

With elected park commissioners, the parks would be run more in line with the needs and expectations of park users, Eugster said.

“It will focus attention on where the electorate wants it to focus its attention,” he said. “I’ve always felt that the Park Board focused too much attention on golf courses and Riverfront Park, but it could be that’s the right thing to do.”

Park Board President Steven Jones said electing park commissioners would add an unnecessary element of politics to their decision-making.

“The way it is now, it sort of insulates the Park Board from the whims of politics,” Jones said. “It’s sort of like being a judge. They have a broader view than the politics of the moment.”

Parks Director Ange Taylor, who is retiring next month, took issue with Eugster’s complaints.

“What right does he have to pass judgment on something that’s worked very well since 1910?” Taylor said. “The Park Board is strong right now. It’s very effective.”

Mayor John Talbott said Eugster’s idea may have merit.

Talbott said he feels the five-year terms Park Board members serve are too long and that the board has too much power.

“The Park Board, it would appear, is autonomous,” Talbott said. “You’re going to have a strong mayor (next year) in charge of the Parks Department who can’t tell them what to do.”

Under Eugster’s plan, the city could tell the commissioners, “`You be responsible. You take the whole nine yards,”’ Talbott said. “Now, we just give them money.”

Eugster has asked the city clerk to put the request for a charter change on the council’s agenda in April.

There is no particular reason for the timing of the move, he said.

This wouldn’t be the first charter change on the November ballot. Eugster successfully proposed another that would remove a clause in the charter favoring married men in city hiring.

Voters should prepare themselves for more changes as well, he said.

“This is just the beginning,” Eugster said. “There’s going to be a lot more on the ballot.”

This sidebar appeared with the story:

PARK BOARD

List of members

Members of the Spokane Park Board, with the year their terms end: President Steven Jones, 2003; Vice President Steve McNutt, 2004; Carol Barber, 2001; Carl Boston, 2005; Mark Casey, 2002; Jeff Halstead, 2001; Dennis Hession, 2002; Frank Knott, 2003; Steve Silkworth, 2005; Bonnie Zahara, 2004; and Steve Corker, City Council member.