Giacobbe Byrd hired as Spokane City Council Director

The Spokane City Council has a new office manager.

Giacobbe Byrd, who until recently served as legislative assistant to Spokane City Councilwoman Lori Kinnear, has been formally named council director and will manage the office of the council.

He was unanimously approved by the City Council on June 26. Byrd’s effective start date is July 11, and he will receive a salary of more than $117,000.

“I feel honored,” Byrd said. “I’m really heartened by the support of all seven council members; I truly work for each and every one of them.”

He had stepped into the role informally after the resignation of former Council Director Hannahlee Allers, taking her seat on the council dais in early April. Council President Breean Beggs said Allers had not left for another job but wanted to start a new chapter in her life.

The director manages the City Council office, acts as a go-between for council members and the city administration, manages meetings and council staff, drafts meeting agendas and handles myriad other tasks, Beggs said.

Byrd’s experience in politics began before his work in Spokane City Hall. In college, he interned for Sen. Patty Murray in the Spokane office and later in her D.C. office.

After graduating from Georgetown University, he worked in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Surveys and Investigations unit, which reports to leadership of the House Appropriations Committee and looked into the effective use of federal funding in various programs. In that role, Byrd focused on a Bureau of Land Management program that manages and protects wild horses and burros.

He returned to Spokane, where he was born and raised, in 2019 and got a job as Kinnear’s legislative assistant later that year.