City Council interviews applicants for vacancy

Four finalists for a vacancy on the Spokane City Council said Thursday that they see annexation as one way the city can work its way out of its perennial budget crisis.

The six current members of the City Council interviewed each of the finalists Thursday afternoon and may vote on a selection as early as Monday.

The finalists are Rob Crow, a small-business owner; Lewis Griffin, former city administrator in Liberty Lake; Judith Gilmore, a consultant and former City Council candidate; and Andrew Rathbun, a lieutenant colonel in the Washington Air National Guard.

All four indicated varying levels of support for annexation during interviews Thursday. Tax revenue from newly annexed areas is being eyed as a way to pay for city services and avoid a repeat of budget cuts.

“You’ve got to move out and take these areas and grow,” Griffin said.

Rathbun said the industrial zones of the West Plains would make a logical extension of city boundaries.

Gilmore was more cautious in her support of annexation, saying each potential addition to the city should be studied carefully.

Crow said residents living in areas being eyed for annexation might be convinced that the city can do a better job for them. “There are benefits to being incorporated into the city,” he said.

Crow graduated with a business degree from the University of Southern California in 1991. He is vice president and co-owner of family-owned Lloyd Industries Inc., which moved to northeast Spokane from California in the mid-1990s and specializes in the manufacture of pizza baking pans.

Crow told council members Spokane needs to move past its defeatist mentality. “I’m one who focuses more on the solutions,” he said.

Griffin spent 30 years in the Air Force and then enrolled at Eastern Washington University to prepare himself for a civilian career. He was city administrator in Liberty Lake for four years, and before that, he spent five years as city administrator in Colfax.

He said he has experience in economic growth and land-use planning and that “smart economic development is what we need.”

Gilmore has run unsuccessfully for City Council three times, having lost by 43 votes in a primary election last year for a seat in District 3. She was defeated in a general election in 1997 and again in a primary two years later. A 31-year resident of the West Central area, Gilmore has followed a varied career in business, government, consulting and agency work.

A tense moment came Thursday when Councilman Brad Stark asked her how she could justify applying for the appointment after being rejected by voters three times.

Gilmore responded, “I would have expected that question from you, Brad.” Gilmore defended herself by saying she was the only candidate among the finalists to have run previously for the council, and that two of her losses were in close races.

Rathbun is a graduate of Columbia High School in Richland and Kansas State University in 1987. He has lived for 14 years in the West Central neighborhood, where he is a leader in community organizations. He works full time in the Air National Guard, but he said he can fit his duties as a council member into his days off and accumulated vacation time.

He said that during his work on neighborhood issues, he has met numerous 20-something residents who are becoming active in civic affairs. He said the future of Spokane lies with the talents and new ideas of younger residents.

“I’m not old school,” he said. “I can bring fresh ideas.”