Council majority supports Hession

Spokane City Council members on Monday reaffirmed their intention to appoint City Council President Dennis Hession to replace recalled Mayor Jim West when West leaves office on Friday.

Councilman Brad Stark had lobbied other council members to open the mayor’s job to applications. At midday Monday, Stark said in an interview that he was open to the possibility of selecting someone from outside of City Hall.

Stark then raised the subject of Hession’s qualifications during a closed-door executive session of the full City Council on Monday afternoon. After the closed-door meeting, Stark refused to discuss his maneuvering.

“I don’t talk about what happened” in executive session, he said.

Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers said Stark attempted to derail Hession’s appointment, and that the discussion of Hession’s qualifications should have been the subject of an open meeting. She said Stark was rebuffed by a majority of the council.

The council could vote to name Hession as West’s successor as early as Monday.

Voters last Tuesday removed West from office in a historic recall measure that charged the mayor with misusing his office for personal benefit. The recall won 65 percent voter support. The county auditor is expected to certify the election Friday, which will create the expected vacancy in the mayor’s office.

As mayor pro tem, Hession automatically becomes acting mayor under the City Charter. However, the council has authority to name a new mayor to fill the remaining two years on West’s term, and can select any qualified voter in the city. Both Hession and West were elected in 2003.

According to Rodgers and others, Stark had hoped to persuade Councilwoman Mary Verner to join him in opening the mayor’s position to applicants. Councilman Bob Apple had previously called for an application process, in part to force the next mayor to articulate his or her goals for the city.

Stark explained he needed only three votes to force an application process since Hession’s move to the mayor’s office could reduce the council to a six-vote body.

On Monday, Verner acknowledged that Stark had sought her support, but she believes the city needs a quick transition of power, and that Hession is the best candidate to take the city’s helm. Hession’s appointment would prevent dissension that might occur during a debate over potential mayoral applicants.

By Monday evening, Stark had changed his stance. “I am now supporting Dennis Hession as mayor without qualification.”

Last week, West told reporters he doesn’t believe that Hession is qualified to fill his shoes. He said there are other persons outside of City Hall who would make better mayors than anyone on the City Council, including Hession. The mayor also said in an interview that Hession lacks a vision for the city’s future.

Hession has said the mayor is wrong, and that he voiced his views to voters when he ran for election as council president.

Apple said he fears that Hession will not have a mandate from the community. “I know he is going to get a lot of criticism no matter what direction he takes,” Apple said.

As for Stark’s attempt to open the mayor’s job to applications, Apple said, “I think he was following the mayor’s direction on that.”

Stark, who was elected to the city’s South Side council district in 2003, has been a close political ally of the mayor since West’s problems broke in a series of investigative stories in The Spokesman-Review, starting in May.

In other business, the council voted 4-3 to maintain its longtime insurance agent and administrator for a pair of health care plans that provide coverage for retired law enforcement and firefighters covered under a state law that was in effect from 1970 through 1977.

City staffers sought to open the insurance service to new competitors after it was discovered that the city was being overcharged for administrative fees by its longtime agent, BeneFax, Inc. But BeneFax changed its fee structure under pressure from the city’s retirement director and provided a competitive proposal against a competitor, Moloney & O’Neill, of Spokane.

Retirees asked the city to maintain BeneFax because of its record of service to retirees.

Hession said he was troubled that BeneFax had not helped the city save money in a changing insurance climate. “I don’t know what the dollar figures are,” Hession said. “We would have saved a lot of money.”

The police retiree medical benefits are paid directly from the general tax fund, and a series of catastrophic cases this year totaling more than $1.5 million in unexpected charges contributed to budget problems at City Hall.

Late Monday, the council was considering adoption of a 2006 budget.