Update: County CEO complaint forwarded to state Attorney General
Update: Larry Haskell on Tuesday forwarded the request for an ethics investigation into the process that named Todd Mielke top pick for the county CEO job to Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, according to a statement from Haskell’s office.
Haskell’s letter contained no recommendation, just a copy of Bonnie Mager’s complaint along with a request for Ferguson’s office to take whatever action it deems appropriate, said Spokane County spokeswoman Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter.
Haskell also sent a reply to Mager, who asked about possible ethics violations as well as hiring decisions being made outside open public meetings. Mager had asked that Haskell forward her request to the state to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
There was no word Wednesday about how, or if, the request will affect the hiring process for the man who will replace Marshall Farnell as CEO of Spokane County. Public interviews remained scheduled for Wednesday morning with commissioners Al French and Shelly O’Quinn, and job candidates Mielke and Richard L. Davis.
Original story follows:
Former Commissioner Bonnie Mager wants the state to investigate the process used to pick Commissioner Todd Mielke as the front-runner for the Spokane County chief executive job.
Mager delivered a letter to Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell on Monday requesting the probe and alleging possible violations of the state’s Ethics Code and Open Public Meetings Act. Mielke was named the top choice by a panel of business leaders to replace Marshall Farnell, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
In the letter, Mager says that meeting should have been public because participants winnowed a list of 84 candidates to just two. The state’s Open Public Meetings Act allows a meeting where candidates are considered for a position to take place behind closed doors, but any meeting where interviews take place and any “final action appointing a candidate to elective office” must occur in public, according to state law.
Mielke said Monday the selection committee, made up of business leaders from corporations such as Rosauers, Inland Power and Light, and the Spokane Association of Realtors, took no “final action” and the county CEO job requires a skill set different than an elected official.
“The decision-making body in this case is the county commissioners,” Mielke said. “They have not made any decision eliminating the other 82 applicants.”
But commissioners will only be interviewing Mielke and Richard L. Davis on Wednesday morning, the top two picks of the selection committee. Those interviews will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held in the county’s human resources training room, 1229 W. Mallon Ave., and will be open to the public.
The county CEO serves at the pleasure of Spokane County commissioners and earns $160,000 annually. Spokane County commissioners make $93,000.
Mager, who lost her seat on the commission to Al French in the November 2010 election, calls Mielke’s application for the top county job “an inherent conflict of interest” that violates the state’s ethics code precluding officials from using their positions to gain special privileges or beneficial, insider knowledge.
Mielke has said his tenure as county commissioner, dating to 2004, gives him an advantage over others applying for the position.
“I think it’s a strong application,” Mielke said. “If anyone in this state should know about counties, it’s me.”
The commission gave Farnell a pay raise in June 2012. Mielke was listed absent from that meeting in public records, and he said the vote was taken to give Farnell a bump after the longtime executive refused cost-of-living pay increases for years.
Haskell intends to meet with his senior deputies in the prosecutor’s office to determine what course of action to take.
Mager did not return a call requesting comment Monday.
Mielke said he was aware there would be some backlash about his efforts to attain the county’s top job. He has made all of his application materials available for public inspection.
“I’ve tried to be as transparent as possible,” he said. “But I’m also not the one in control of this process.”