Mayor, council clash over proposed city administrator position

Liberty Lake Mayor Wendy Van Orman’s plan to create a city administrator position for Community Development Director Doug Smith hit a snag Tuesday night as some council members and the mayor exchanged harsh words.

An ordinance that would have created the administrator post failed on a 3-3 vote in the absence of Councilwoman Judi Owens. Several tries to amend or table the ordinance also failed on a tie vote.

The city used to have a city administrator, Lewis Griffin, but the post was eliminated in 2005. Several council members said they would rather have a new finance director, a position that has been unfilled since Arlene Fisher left in January to work for the city of Cheney.

“It’s difficult to believe we don’t need a finance director,” said Councilman Patrick Jenkins. He said the new city administrator position would make it seem like the city would be moving away from a strong mayor and toward a city manager government. “We’re actually creating a large shift.”

Councilman Odin Langford said he wanted a job description for the new position, a list of desired qualifications and Van Orman’s reasoning for not opening up the position for competition. “You need to convince us that you need these things,” he said.

Van Orman said Fisher’s duties are being shared by the new city clerk and city treasurer. In addition to his duties as development director, Smith, since January, has been overseeing the day-to-day running of the city, the job a city administrator would do.

Councilman Neal Olander said he was in favor of having a city administrator since the mayor only works part time.

“I think the public deserves someone here 9 to 5, five days a week to be in charge,” he said. “It’s important for a leader to create her own organization. I don’t know why you’re fighting her. If you guys don’t like it, you run for mayor.”

“Do you have any idea what staff we have and what they do?” asked Van Orman. “We don’t need a financial director. I’m trying to figure out why you’re trying to shove this financial director down my throat.”

“We funded it,” said Jenkins. “We set it as policy.”

Police Chief Brian Asmus approached the council to say that Smith has been doing a good job acting as city administrator while also serving as community development director. “I’m not sure this is my place or business,” he said. “I’ve worked for several city administrators. He’s doing both roles. He’s going well beyond what his current title is.”

Jenkins said he has nothing against Smith personally, but didn’t want to go back to a time when the city had a mayor and a city administrator with different agendas. “He’s a very competent individual,” he said. “I don’t want to go through 2004-2005 again when there were two heads to this beast.”

At the end of the meeting, Councilman David Crump gently chastised the council for the long, sometimes heated discussion about the administrator position. “I think it was a poor use of time tonight on the ordinance,” he said. Because of the council’s action, a portion of the ordinance that allowed the Police Department to use a $51,000 grant also failed. “We could have moved that forward. As government, I think we could have been more effective.”

Van Orman said she plans to bring the ordinance back before the council.

In other action, the council approved a change order for the Rocky Hill Park construction project. The $57,757 addition will include street frontage improvements, including a sidewalk, curb and sidewalk ramp. The money will come out of the street capital budget, said Smith. “This was an anticipated change,” he said.