Trio want Cheney position

CHENEY – Three people would like to replace Les Harris, who is stepping down from the Cheney City Council.

Actually, four. But Raymond Gawenit can’t accept the position. He remains on the ballot only because it was too late to withdraw when he got a new job that will prevent him from attending council meetings.

Candidates actively seeking the $310-a-month council position are Tim Gainer, Annette Mather and Jim Wallingford.

Gainer points out that he has lived in Cheney for 28 of his 44 years – longer than his brother, Mayor Allan Gainer, who served eight years in the Navy and lived in Boise for several years.

He said he and his brother agree on some things and disagree on others.

“I’m not trying to back anybody’s play,” Tim Gainer said.

Still, Mather questions the wisdom of electing the mayor’s brother to the City Council.

Wallingford didn’t place that issue on his short list of concerns, but is at odds with Gainer with regard to the city’s water supply.

“Water is a major issue here in town,” Wallingford said. “We run out.”

Gainer said the city Utilities Department is working to activate another well, “so the water thing is a non-issue.”

He wants to “get some new blood into the City Council, some new ideas, some new inspiration.” Gainer believes 25 years as system engineer for the local cable company, Davis Communication, gives him useful experience in dealing with utilities and Eastern Washington University.

Maintaining good relations with the university is a high priority for Gainer: “If you keep both sides happy, everybody wins.”

Gainer attended the university for three years and earned an associate degree in applied science from ITT Technical Institute in Spokane in 1993. He has run for City Council in 2005, finishing a distant second to former Mayor Tom Trulove in a three-way race that included Gawenit.

Gainer and his wife, Louise, have a 16-month-old daughter.

Court records show he was charged with drunken driving in 2001 and pleaded guilty to first-degree negligent driving. Also, Gainer has twice filed for bankruptcy relief, in 1985 and in 1998.

“We all make mistakes, and I have learned from mine,” Gainer said. “In the business world, however, I try to keep my personal life separated from my professional life. I believe that one should not be influenced by the other.”

Mather, 43, graduated from Medical Lake High School and has lived in the Cheney area most of her life. She attended Spokane Falls Community College and Spokane Community College, and has worked in law enforcement or security most of her life.

Currently, Mather is a “program assistant” in the SFCC Security Department, handling the budget, monitoring misconduct files and assisting in security work. She has been an unpaid reserve officer in the Cheney Police Department since May 2004.

She promises strong support for police and emergency services, which she thinks haven’t gotten adequate consideration when real estate developments are approved. Nor has the municipal water supply gotten enough attention, Mather believes.

“I’d like to see some accountability on the council,” Mather said. “I feel like it’s too much of a do-your-friends-a-favor kind of thing.”

Married to Dave Mather, she has three adult children – 20-year-old triplets.

Wallingford, 54, also would make law enforcement a top priority. He was a Cheney police officer for 18 years, retiring last year as a detective, and now is security director at Big Slick’s Casino in Spokane. He thinks the city government is “going in the right direction,” but police and firefighter staffing is inadequate.

Other priorities include implementing curbside recycling in Cheney and passing a dangerous-dog ordinance.

Wallingford ran unsuccessfully against incumbent City Councilman Michael McKeehan two years ago. His previous political experience was as a student senator and student body vice president while attending Eastern Washington University.

He and his wife, Carol, have no children.

Wallingford filed a bankruptcy petition in October 1999, a month after drawing $6,000 from a credit card and lending it to his former fraternity, Theta Chi Epsilon. He withdrew the petition and filed an amended version seven months later, after a Bankruptcy Court official objected to Wallingford’s attempt to shield the fraternity’s promissory note from his creditors.

Wallingford said he was trying to help his defunct fraternity re-establish itself in a new house.