Hargreaves to run for County Commission

Spokane County Planning Commissioner Tom Hargreaves announced Friday that he will run for Spokane County commissioner.

Hargreaves, a former Air Force major, will run for the seat being vacated by Commissioner John Roskelley. Like Roskelley, Hargreaves is a Democrat.

“We do need a balance on the commission. Also, we need people in all of our elected positions that have experience and what amounts to training in how to do the job,” he said.

In addition to experience in the Air Force, Hargreaves has a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Ohio State University, a master’s degree in management science from the University of Dayton and a certificate of fine arts from Spokane Falls Community College.

He’s worked as a management and land-use consultant and as a potter.

“I have the ability, and I’ve shown through my experience with the Planning Commission, to be able to pull not just people together, but their ideas, too, and to put together solutions that are out-of-the-box solutions,” he said.

The biggest issue facing Spokane County right now is the economy, Hargreaves said.

“Many of the other issues will begin to be resolved as we resolve the economic issues,” he said. “We need jobs, obviously, but we don’t need jobs that pay $18,000 a year. We need family wage jobs.”

Those jobs are more likely to be found with companies that produce goods and services like software and new technologies than with retail stores, Hargreaves said.

Protecting the area’s environmental resources and natural beauty is another priority, he said.

“We have in our natural environment here in Spokane something unique. It can attract and keep people in Spokane,” he said.

Hargreaves, 59, was born in Honolulu. He has lived in Spokane for 15 years, serving on the Spokane County Conservation District Board of Supervisors and on the Friends of the Little Spokane River Valley board of directors.

Hargreaves will kick off his campaign Tuesday with a 10:30 a.m. rally just north of the carousel in Riverfront Park.