Rough start, but she’s managing

CHENEY – Less than a month after starting her job as city administrator, Arlene Fisher had a crisis on her hands.

The area was hit hard by a snowstorm, and the city had to mobilize: plows were dispatched and running in 12-hour shifts, power crews made sure everyone still had electricity and the Red Cross was activated.

“We handled it well,” Fisher said.

City offices were closed for 2 1/2 days, she said, but services didn’t slow down at all. Fisher estimates that during that week she probably managed to get a total of seven hours of sleep.

“I was incredibly impressed about how well we came together,” she said.

Although the city itself never lost power during that week, many residents in the outlying areas did. A Red Cross station was set up at the high school and a snow mobile was activated for bringing supplies to folks who live in hard-to-reach areas.

It’s all in a day’s work for Fisher, 46, who replaced Paul Schmidt as the city administrator Jan. 2.

She previously worked as the director of finance and administration for the city of Liberty Lake. As one of the first employees hired in that city, which was incorporated in 2001, she helped to form its government and community from the ground up.

“It was an incredible professional opportunity for me,” she said of her time in Liberty Lake. “I’ll always cherish that.”

“Cheney is a full-service city,” she said. It differs from many small cities in that it has its own police, fire, sewer, water, utilities, park and power departments.

The city employs 87, each of whom Fisher has been meeting one-on-one.

Fisher said that one of her main goals is to focus on economic development. Bi-Mart recently moved to town, and Fisher would like to see more restaurants set up shop.

Cheney has been growing so much, in fact, the city put a moratorium on building permits last year out of concern for the water supply. The moratorium expired Jan. 24, and the city plans for a new well and re-drilling an existing well.

Fisher will also promote events such as the upcoming Mayfest, which will include vendors, bands and, new this year, a three-on-three basketball tournament. Mayfest will be held May 9 and 10.

Cheney also will have a farmers’ market and summer park concerts.

“It’s just a fun, active place to be,” she said.

She has a list of short-term goals for Cheney listed on a whiteboard in her office. There are plans in the works for making Cheney at Tree City USA, creating tobacco-free zones in parks, and making the city a quiet zone that would require trains to silence their whistles when they roll through town.

Fisher came to the Spokane area in 1989 after living in Seattle for three years. She had previously lived in Colorado, where she workedas a police officer and in the municipal court.

“I was never going to stay here,” she said. “That was 19 years ago.”

She put her time here to good use, however. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business and finance and a master’s in public administration from Eastern Washington University. She is still an Eagles fan.

“I cherish my education that I got here,” she said. “It didn’t come easy, I tell you.”

Now that her career has taken her to the West Plains, Fisher and her husband, Richard Maurer, have rented a house and have plans to build a home. They have two sons and two daughters, none of whom lives at home.

An ordinary day for Fisher includes visiting four or five city departments, and she likes what she sees.

“I want to be a strong leader for the employees here. Cheney staff members are absolutely phenomenal,” she said. “I’ve been humbled by meeting them.”