Airway Heights race muddled

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – Airway Heights voters have an unusual choice on the Nov. 6 ballot for an open position on their City Council.

Ron Welker suspended his campaign because he’s thinking of moving out of town; Kevin Richey isn’t eligible because he moved to town too recently.

Richey, a deputy sheriff who works in the Spokane Valley, is on the ballot opposite city Planning Commission member Welker for the Position 5 seat on the general election ballot.

Richey discovered this week he can’t take office if he wins. He moved to the city in January and decided this spring to run for office as a way to get involved in the community.

“It was something I always wanted to do,” he said.

Although he checked with his boss, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, and determined there were no problems with department rules, he failed to check the statutes, which require a council candidate to live in the community for one year before being elected. If he gets the most votes in the election, he can’t be sworn in.

“It was an accident on my part,” Richey said. “If I would’ve known about (the law), I wouldn’t have filed.”

Welker tried to officially withdraw from the race a few weeks after filing. He’s thinking of leaving Airway Heights at the end of the current school year, unhappy with the way the council is dealing with the increased number of sex offenders moving into the area.

But he was too late to get his name removed from the ballot. He told some friends he dropped out but made no general announcement.

Now he’s wondering if he should try to win and address the problem from within the council.

“I would really have to think about it,” he said when told Richey is ineligible.

The remaining contested race features John Holloway, one of the city’s most experienced veterans of municipal government, against newcomer Clancy Mullins.

Holloway, a retired Air Force noncommissioned officer, notes that he’s been connected with the city “one way or another” since 1976. He worked for the city for 18 years, then served on the Planning Commission for eight before being appointed to an opening on the council.

“It didn’t change much until the early ‘90s,” Holloway, 78, said of the West Plains city. “Now, to put it bluntly, we’re really fighting and scrambling to keep up with (growth).”

Mullins, a vocational instructor at the correctional center and an elementary school Parent Teacher Organization vice president, says the city needs to embrace the growth, and offer any tax incentives it can to attract business.

Mullins, 28, acknowledges he has a tough challenge: “My biggest disadvantage is some people have known him since they were little kids.”

Charlotte Lawrence, who was appointed to her council seat, is running unopposed.

The ballot also features a $3.7 million bond issue that would allow the city to build a new two-story municipal building and remodel the current structure that houses City Hall and the fire station into a building solely for the Fire Department.

The 30-year-bond would put an extra levy of 75 cents for every $1,000 of assessed value on property tax bills within the city.