Hession, council increasingly at odds

Tensions between Spokane City Council and Mayor Dennis Hession have escalated in recent weeks with at least three council members discussing a vote of no confidence in the mayor.

The trouble stems from a series of issues in which the council and the mayor have found themselves at odds, including animal control, employee benefits packages, land use and the hiring of a new solid waste director.

It comes as the city’s election season gets under way, with Hession running this fall for the position he won by appointment in December 2005 after the recall of Jim West. Four council seats head to the ballot as well. All are nonpartisan positions.

The council and mayor both are trying to take the lead in efforts to bring greater efficiency to a City Hall that has had trouble balancing the budget in recent years.

Hession is scheduled Friday to address Greater Spokane Inc. – a new business group combining the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Spokane Area Economic Development Council – on the state of the city.

Several council members are considering issuing a rebuttal statement following the mayor’s speech to give their own views of where Spokane is going.

Councilman Brad Stark pointed out that Hession remodeled his office last year by putting up a wall between the public reception area and the entrance to his corner office.

“Literally, the walls have gone up,” Stark said.

As word of the trouble spread through City Hall on Monday, Hession sent an e-mail to council members inviting them to his office to talk each Friday from 4 to 5 p.m., and acting Deputy Mayor John Pilcher sent another e-mail inviting the council members to participate in an effort to redefine the values and vision of the city.

Councilman Al French, who is expected to challenge Hession for mayor, said he had to file an open records request with the city clerk to obtain Hession’s papers on his decision to hire an out-of-town candidate for director of solid waste.

Hession had upset City Hall insiders by choosing Mollie Mangerich, operations supervisor for the solid waste department in Lawrence, Kan., over Monica Bramble, who has worked for the city since 1991.

Bramble had been ranked higher by a selection committee, but Hession chose Mangerich, he said, because of her apparent skill at handling administrative and interagency politics. The nomination won council approval in a 4-3 vote.

French and Stark said the mayor misled the council in December when he told them that he had not considered putting a council member on the selection committee. Documents obtained from the mayor’s office showed that his staff had recommended placing council members on the selection committee, but their names were crossed off. “The facts don’t support his statement,” French said.

Hession on Monday said he couldn’t recall the details of that.

“Sometimes we don’t see eye to eye,” Hession said Monday.

But the mayor said he isn’t troubled that the council members may issue their own state-of-the-city statement. “They’re working with me to run the city, so they should be commenting,” Hession said.

Several council members are upset that the mayor is considering a city-run animal control department to replace SpokAnimal CARE, which wants to get out of the dog- and cat-catching business and create a new no-kill shelter.

Stark and Councilman Rob Crow have been pushing for the city to contract out animal control to another agency, possibly Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service, even though that is expected to cost more money.

Last week, the council approved a resolution calling on the mayor to seek bids for animal control.

Hession said he wants to contain costs but hasn’t ruled out seeking bids.

Councilwoman Mary Verner has been asking the city administration to change the employee benefit packages so that employees could choose among a menu of options, allowing the city to limit its costs as health-care insurance prices escalate.

Crow said he wants a better delineation between the mayor’s role of running city government and the council’s role of setting policy.

Council members also want to hear from the mayor on his long-range plans for annexation, and they were critical of the city planning staff for not working faster to create more business zones in the East Central Neighborhood.

“This one ripped me bad,” Apple said of the zoning issue.