Editorial: Squabbling must stop as Spokane County seeks new CEO

Todd Mielke has been a fine Spokane County commissioner, and will continue to be after a last-minute breakdown in the search for a new county chief executive officer scuttled his application, the only one remaining.

Despite a search process designed by fellow commissioners Al French and Shelly O’Quinn to be fair to all candidates, the outcome was unfair to almost everyone involved.

Any short list of finalists that included Mielke was bound to be suspect, and his credentials are good enough that he was likely to be on that list.

In fact, there were but two finalists, and Mielke was one. When fellow finalist Richard L. Davis withdrew, only O’Quinn was willing to hire Mielke. French balked.

He says he wanted to scrap the process in March because the county was not receiving enough applications from qualified candidates. While the multiphase Spokane County review proceeded, he says, the best candidates were hired by more nimble, more moneyed governments.

Davis, for example, accepted the city manager’s position in Baytown, Texas, for 25 percent more money, additional delayed compensation and six months of living expenses.

Go figure.

It was in March, too, that French started to discuss potential contract terms short of those advertised for the position because Mielke, if selected, would need time to work toward the expertise level of Marshall Farnell, the incumbent executive and a master of courthouse business.

O’Quinn was committed to the process she and French had designed, which she says was as transparent as any that a headhunter would conduct. The work of the seven independent community and business leaders enlisted to vet the finalists was exceptional, she says.

Only after their work was done did the issue go to O’Quinn and French for a decision. When French would not second her motion to hire Mielke, it was all over but the second-guessing.

The three commissioners will probably not convene together until July. They can consider hiring internally, or retain a headhunter for $30,000 – give or take – with the hope an exceptional candidate will emerge. It would be worth $30,000 to avoid a repeat of the well-intended process that was sure to fail unless Mielke was unfairly disqualified.

Although all three say they can put this fiasco behind them, they are clearly not comfortable with each other. Earlier this year, there was an acrimonious falling-out over the Spokane Transit Authority’s effort to increase sales taxes to expand bus service, a tiff that included claims by French that O’Quinn-Mielke phone conversations were violating Washington open meeting laws, which both deny.

The squabbling must stop. Quality candidates for county executive will not expose their careers to a three-way crossfire. Even Farnell may run out of patience.

If we cannot wave a fistful of money at applicants, we can at least wave an olive branch.