Spokane County CEO selection committee includes donors to likely candidate

Two members of the seven-member committee who will help choose the next CEO of Spokane County are campaign contributors to one of the likely candidates for the job, County Commissioner Todd Mielke.

The two commissioners who aren’t interested in the job, which pays about $160,000 a year, say they’ve created a fair selection process and chosen strong leaders to help them name a new CEO.

County Commissioner Shelly O’Quinn, a Republican, said she is confident the committee would not make decisions based on contributions or politics. The two committee members who gave to Mielke in his most recent campaign in 2012 — Jack Heath and Tom Johnson — donated a total of $540. Mielke raised nearly $150,000 for that race.

“We picked people who are going to select the best person,” O’Quinn said. The selection committee was named to remove the decision-making process from county commissioners and to ensure “complete transparency” in the process, she added.

But former County Commissioner Bonnie Mager, a Democrat who lost her seat in 2010, questioned the need for a committee. She said it’s been “well-known” for years that Mielke was eying the CEO job.

“These are all things that they’ve never done when they hired before,” Mager said. “I think this committee thing sounds a little bit contrived.”

O’Quinn and County Commissioner Al French selected the seven-member panel earlier this week to replace Marshall Farnell, who’s served the county since 1972 and has held the chief executive office since 2004. Mielke has recused himself from the selection process, saying earlier this month that he’s interested in pursuing the office but hasn’t made a decision.

The review committee, which will meet for the first time in the next few weeks, consists of:

• Heath, president and chief operations officer of Washington Trust Bank;

• Tom Johnson, president and chief operations officer at STCU;

• Elaine Couture, regional chief executive of Providence Health Care in Eastern Washington;

• Kris Mikkelsen, retired CEO of Inland Power;

• Jeff Phillips, president and CEO of Rosauers Supermarkets;

• Christine Johnson, chancellor of Community Colleges of Spokane; and

• Doug Cochran, Washington State Auditor’s Office chief of staff and former Yakima County administrator.

County Human Resources Director Cathy Malzahn said Thursday the county has received 29 applications for the position, after initially posting the opening earlier this month. Several of the committee members contacted for this story declined comment, saying they hadn’t yet begun meeting to decide Farnell’s successor.

French said he selected Couture, Heath and Mikkelsen to serve on the committee because of their knowledge of the organizational skills that will be needed by the next county CEO.

“It’s really about managing the organization, and managing to achieve outcomes,” French said.

O’Quinn said the county is looking for a leader, and her selections for the committee were aimed in that direction.

“I wanted them to be people who had been successful at hiring other people,” she said. “I didn’t want it to be political.”

French said he asked Heath and his other selections about their relationships with Mielke, and whether that would bias their decision-making.

“Todd’s participation in this process does add an interesting wrinkle,” French said. “Having been in office as long as he has, it would be hard to find someone that hasn’t had any interactions with him.”

French said he was satisfied his selections would not base their decisions on political contributions or favoritism.

The review committee will be tasked with narrowing a list of 10 applicants selected by Farnell, Malzahn, county Chief Operation Officer John Dickson and county Chief Financial Officer Bob Wrigley. County commissioners expect that process to be complete by April.

The top candidates selected by the committee will be interviewed by the Board of County Commissioners in a public meeting. Commissioners have the final say on who will succeed Farnell.

If Mielke is selected, commissioners will have the additional task of naming the three-term Republican’s replacement on the board within five days, or Gov. Jay Inslee is allowed to name his own replacement under state law.

Former Spokane City Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin, rumored to be a favorite of the Republican Party for the seat, said earlier this week she hadn’t been contacted by Mielke or anyone else about the possibility, but said the position would be “a natural fit.”

“I would love to sit at the table,” McLaughlin said.

O’Quinn dismissed any notion that Mielke had an edge in the selection process.

“Todd has to earn his way in this process,” she said.

Farnell said earlier this month he’d remain with the county for a “transitional period” to help ease his replacement into the job.