It’s been eight years since Spokane adopted a strong-mayor form of government, and we’re still working the bugs out.

In the days when the mayor was little more than another member of the City Council, the city’s administrative and legislative functions resided under the same roof. A professional city manager guided day-to-day operations, and department heads answered to him.

But he answered to the elected leaders. As representatives of the voters, they set policy; as a trained administrator, he implemented it. If he couldn’t get it right, they could find someone else who would.

Individually, the mayor had one vote out of seven. Still, it was a workable system, and most Western cities Spokane’s size use something similar.

In those days, City Council members didn’t have to worry about being outmuscled by the mayor. They all had essentially equal access to City Hall resources such as the legal department and clerical help.

But when city voters narrowly approved a charter change in 1999, the mayor took leave of the council. He became the administrative authority, and the city’s administrative resources largely went with him.

It’s possible voters really meant to concentrate so much power in the hands of one person, but since the proposition passed by only 164 votes out of nearly 55,000 cast, it was hardly a mandate.

Four years later, a proposal to reverse the 1999 vote went down to convincing defeat – but so did John Powers, the only person to hold the strong-mayor job up to that point.

For the record, we opposed the strong-mayor system in both 1999 and 2003, but the voters have spoken.

Meanwhile, the seven-member City Council is hampered by a distinct imbalance of power. While the mayor could receive $150,000 a year (both Mary Verner and her predecessor have voluntarily accepted less), council members are paid a part-timer’s wage – $22,500 for council president and $18,000 for a council member. The mayor commands the city departments, whose directors report to her.

True, new Mayor Verner and most of her predecessors have been good to share staff resources. But there are no guarantees. On its own, the council commands one executive assistant.

As they wrestle with the 2008 city budget, however, it appears they will divvy up about $110,000 to hire part-time assistants.

Profligacy it’s not, costing Spokane citizens an average of about 50 cents each. Council members, in the meantime, won’t get a lot of assistance for their respective shares of $110,000 – certainly not enough to assure the checks and balances citizens should expect between the legislative and executive branches of municipal government.

If there are doubts in council members’ minds about whether to take this step, they should set them aside. The move is minimal and long overdue.