City Council selects new member

A 36-year-old business owner who lives in the Five Mile Prairie neighborhood was appointed Monday to a Spokane City Council vacancy created in the wake of the voter recall of Mayor Jim West in December.

The six current members of the council voted unanimously in favor of Rob Crow, co-owner of Lloyd Industries of Spokane.

“I am honored to be selected,” Crow told council members after his selection. “I will take this responsibility with the utmost regard.”

Crow was chosen from a initial field of 19 applicants. Last week, he and three other finalists appeared for interviews before the City Council. Council members made the selection after filling out tabulation sheets ranking each of the finalists.

Councilman Brad Stark said the City Council had to make a difficult choice among a group of strong applicants and that Crow showed his leadership skills, enthusiasm, creativity and innovation that helped him win the appointment.

Crow fills a northwest Spokane District 3 seat vacated by Council President Joe Shogan when he won an appointment to the council president position this month. That opening occurred after voters recalled West, and then the council appointed former Council President Dennis Hession to become mayor.

In an interview after his selection, Crow acknowledged he has little experience in politics, but he said his knowledge of business and his desire to make Spokane a better place will give him focus to do his job. He said he wants to approach his new position with a positive outlook.

Crow said he supports the council’s attempts to cut expenses in the city budget and to find new revenue sources through economic growth. He said he also believes that growth should be well managed so that it preserves the water and the conveniences, such as good roads, that residents like about the city.

Crow moved to Spokane with his family 13 years ago, but had lived in the city for two years when he was a teenager.

His company, which he owns with his father and company founder, John Crow, operates a manufacturing plant at 2825 N. Hogan. Lloyd Industries makes precision-engineered pizza baking pans and other bakeware. They started with no employees and now have 35 workers on the payroll. All of them are eligible for health insurance benefits, Crow said.

According to a Lloyd Industries Web site, the company sells pans to 25 top pizza franchisers as well as about 350 other pizza makers.

Crow is a member of the current Leadership Spokane class and has sat on the Manufacturer’s Roundtable for the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Rich Hadley, president and CEO for the chamber, said Crow has strong analytical skills that have helped his company grow in Spokane. “He’s got what I call really natural communications skills,” Hadley said.

Crow lives with his wife and three children. He is a presenter for Roman Catholic marriage encounter programs and a reader at Assumption Roman Catholic Church.