Spokane Valley close to appointing new city manager

The city of Spokane Valley announced late Tuesday that a new city manager may be appointed at the Oct. 25 City Council meeting.

The appointment is made by the City Council. Names of the 42 candidates who applied for the job have not been released.

In an executive session on Sept. 27, the City Council agreed on a slate of candidates to be interviewed, but it has not released the number of final candidates or their names.

On Friday, the Spokane Valley City Council will meet in a “closed special executive council meeting” at 9:30 a.m. to interview this final group of candidates.

A seven-member panel of community stakeholders – including Katie Allen, city administrator for Liberty Lake; Jack Pring, board chairman of the Pring Corp.; and Rob Gragg, vice president of Crown West Realty; as well as superintendents from Spokane Valley school districts – will also interview the final candidates at an undisclosed time and date.

And, finally, an eight-member panel of city of Spokane Valley senior staff – including City Clerk Chris Bainbridge, City Attorney Cary Driskell and Human Resources Manager John Whitehead – will also interview the final candidates at an undisclosed time and date.

The Spokane Valley City Council will then meet in executive session prior to its regular meeting on Tuesday. It’s possible a new city manager will be appointed at the regular council meeting, which follows at 6 p.m.

The press release from Spokane Valley specified that only the regular City Council meeting on Tuesday is open to the public.

A recruitment company has organized the search and conducted background checks on the candidates.