Web site rankles city waste officials

A cleverly designed Web site critical of how Spokane manages regional trash disposal has put city officials on the defensive.

The site, operated by self-styled civic watchdogs, has used government accountability laws to compile financial documents and other records that they suggest show the city has overcharged utility customers and “misappropriated” about $14 million since the mid-1990s.

But what really got City Hall’s attention is an official-looking “ratepayer refund request form” posted on the site under the headline “Attention Spokane area residents, you might be entitled to a refund”

Dozens of the bogus forms have been mailed to City Hall by residents who apparently thought the refund offer of as much as $208 per household was genuine.

This week, the city fired back, issuing a news release to dispute the Web site’s contentions and declaring the rebate form a “sham” perpetrated by individuals “known for attempting to deceive Spokane consumers.”

“We are outraged by the ongoing misrepresentation of facts about our very effective Solid Waste System,” city Public Works Director Dave Mandyke said in prepared remarks. “We would advise our customers not to waste their time on this deception.”

The city is sending letters to those who submitted the forms explaining that no rebate is coming.

“A great number of people have been confused,” said Russ Menke, interim director of the solid waste system.

Contributing to the confusion is the fact that the Web site looks official, perhaps illustrating the emergence of a new era in civic protest for Spokane.

The protest site, spokanewastetoenergy.com, was launched by Mike Noder, a member of the county’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee and a former mayoral candidate. “The intent of that Web site is to support the citizens and give them an advocate in dealing with disposal and recycling matters,” Noder said Thursday.

The site is maintained by Craig Sullivan, who owns Osprey Communications. He said he was trying to emphasize a point with the rebate form, not to deceive anyone.

Sullivan, who has filed several records requests for solid waste financial data over the past two years, said he believes the city-run solid waste system has misappropriated about $14 million since 1995 – an allegation strongly denied by city leaders.

If an upcoming audit finds that the regional system has paid too much to the city for managing the system, Sullivan says he wants to make sure the overcharges go back to customers directly.

City administrator Ted Danek said the city expects no major problems will be found by auditors but will explore Sullivan’s request.

“We don’t want this to be become an Internet legend with us having to deal with this for 20 years,” Danek said.

Mayor Mary Verner has said the waste system would pay for the audit. County leaders, after being briefed by Sullivan, Noder and others, had been pressuring city leaders for months for the audit.

Menke said the city is partly at fault for the county’s lack of trust in the system.

“The professional staff of the system did not necessarily provide the county with the information they should have,” Menke said. “As a result the county reasonably felt out of the loop.”

He said that if the city is overcharging the city-run regional system for items like computer services, the money likely would be repaid to the system, not to ratepayers.

“If we’ve done anything untoward or we’ve mismanaged the money, we’ll fix it,” Menke said. “We don’t believe we have.”

The solid waste system, which was formed about 20 years ago in a partnership among Spokane, Spokane County and other cities, is run by Spokane. In recent years county leaders have questioned whether the city-run regional system has maintained enough independence from the rest of city government.

Although the protest Web site looks like it could be the official city site, a close read should make it clear that it is the work of critics.

For instance, above a map with the locations of transfer stations is this nugget:

“The Spokane Regional Solid Waste System provides inconvenient, one-stop drops for recyclables, household hazardous waste, yard waste, and trash. Spokane City and County residents are limited to the following three locations. Please bring a credit card or plenty of cash, because they’re rather expensive.”