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Notes on Chesney

While it may be instructive for some people to know more of the details concerning the departure of city of Spokane Planning Director Scott Chesney, two things are evident in the article written in the Dec. 14 newspaper.

First: The administration acted out of a documented and ongoing concern related to both performance of duties and actions taken by Chesney that were deemed inappropriate. The views of some property developers and Spokane City Council members should not have been heavily weighted in a decision staff felt forced to make.

Second: The notes placed in the personnel file concerning views privately expressed in an internal file about various council members by Jan Quintrall, head of the Business and Developer Services Division, should have remained private. Including these notes and responses to them by Council President Ben Stuckart in this article was in bad form and completely unrelated to the reasons and explanation of Chesney’s work and the reasons for his termination. Doing so is simply an unfortunate and unnecessary distraction.

Dallas Hawkins

Spokane

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