Charter amendment may not make ballot

A charter amendment setting up a mayoral impeachment process for the city of Spokane may not be ready in time to make the November ballot.

City Council President Dennis Hession said work on drafting the measure fell behind in a crush of city business and events of the past several months, and there is still too much left to be done on the measure to make the regular ballot this year.

“Too many things going on,” he said on Wednesday.

The deadline is next Thursday for submitting measures for the November ballot to the Spokane County auditor.

In May, the council adopted a resolution calling for preparation of an impeachment charter amendment because there needs to be “measures put into place that will provide for accountability and disciplinary options over the office of the mayor and the possible removal from the office of the mayor an individual that has violated standards of conduct for the office.”

The move came after an investigation by The Spokesman-Review revealed in May that the mayor used his office – and his city computer in at least one case – to offer city positions and favors to young men he was seeking for personal relationships, including the possibility of sex.

In June, the council hired a Seattle lawyer to research the legality of adding an impeachment provision to the City Charter. The city of Seattle has an impeachment provision in its charter.

Any change in the Spokane charter would require voter approval. The measure could empower the council to convene a hearing to take evidence and then to vote on the mayor’s fate.

Hession said that attorney Hugh Spitzer, of Foster Pepper & Shefelman in Seattle, reported in a preliminary conversation that a review of state law indicated that an impeachment provision would be legal as an alternative to voter recall.

A recall petition being circulated in the city now has more than 16,000 signatures, and appears likely to trigger a special mail-in recall election in the city on Nov. 29, officials and petition sponsors have said.

The measure must have 12,567 valid signatures from registered city voters to qualify for the ballot. The Nov. 29 mail-in date was set through negotiations between Auditor Vicky Dalton and petition sponsors. Dalton had argued her office would not have time to verify signatures in time for the Nov. 8 general election.

Placing the charter amendment measure on the separate recall election ballot could be too confusing to voters, Hession said.

While the recall election may settle the question of West’s future as mayor, it will not provide an alternative mechanism for a mayor’s removal if another scandal envelops that office.

Proponents of the impeachment said giving the council power to remove the mayor would be speedier than the more lengthy recall process, which is subject to court hearings and appeals.

The City Council and some Spokane business organizations called for West to resign in the weeks after the West scandal surfaced, but West has said he can continue to be effective as mayor, even though his political troubles have occupied much of his attention in recent months.

Hession said he still needs a written opinion from Spitzer on impeachment and then would have to discuss a proposal individually with his council colleagues before a measure would be ready for council action. The council would then have to approve the measure for the ballot following a public hearing.

The council has also hired a Bellevue, Wash., attorney to investigate whether West violated any city policies and standards, including computer use and hiring practices. A separate FBI criminal investigation is under way.