Hession appoints new city attorney

In the first major appointment of his administration, Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession stepped outside of City Hall on Tuesday and named longtime Spokane attorney James Craven to be city attorney.

If confirmed by the City Council, Craven will replace former City Attorney Mike Connelly, who resigned last summer in the middle of a recall effort against former Mayor Jim West.

Hession said he asked Craven to join his administration because he wanted to take advantage of Craven’s 30 years of experience in law. Craven currently is president of Pacific Dispute Resolution, a Spokane-based company that provides mediation and arbitration services throughout the western United States.

Craven also is a former managing partner of Evans, Craven & Lackie, a Spokane firm he helped establish in 1978 and with which he remains affiliated.

During a Tuesday news conference at City Hall, Craven said he was honored and humbled to be asked to serve as city attorney and excited about the challenge. “I will always try to keep in mind that my client is the public and the city,” he said.

Hession reached past two of the city’s staff attorneys – acting City Attorney Howard Delaney and Assistant City Attorney Rocky Treppiedi – both of whom had told Hession they were interested in the job, the mayor said. Treppiedi also serves as the city’s risk manager but is expected to return to the city attorney’s office full time.

Delaney has been serving as acting city attorney since last August and is expected to return to his previous job as city prosecutor.

In a prepared statement, Hession said, “We are very fortunate to have a professional of this caliber willing to give up his private practice to serve the public.” He said he was surprised that Craven accepted his offer.

Craven, a 1975 graduate of Gonzaga Law School, would earn $108,000 in his new position and supervise a staff of 34 and a budget of $2 million a year.

Craven earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and also holds a certificate in dispute resolution from Pepperdine University, where he teaches classes on dispute resolution on a part-time basis. He said he is seeking to pass his dispute resolution business to another lawyer.

Part of his experience in municipal law includes work in the mid-1990s representing developers on several major projects, including Liberty Lake Meadows; the Woodridge development in northwest Spokane; a commercial property at 44th and Regal now being eyed for a Wal-Mart; and a Home Depot on the North Side.

He also served as a mediator during pre-trial efforts to settle a securities civil lawsuit involving the financing of a parking garage at River Park Square mall. The mall is owned by real estate affiliates of Cowles Co., publisher of The Spokesman-Review.

Craven would step into an office that is still sorting out legal issues over city involvement in a public-private financing arrangement for the RPS parking garage, including an appeal over a property tax bill from Spokane County and another appeal seeking to overturn a federal judge’s ruling that released one of the defendants in the securities lawsuit from financial damages.

Council President Joe Shogan said Craven “has some excellent skills for this job,” and that his confirmation appears to be likely.