Cheney City Council candidates debate several important vacant positions in city government

The August primary turned up surprising results in the Cheney City Council race for Position 4, with only three votes separating the top two candidates.

Software engineer Rebecca Long earned 660 votes, barely edging out the 657 votes received by retired firefighter Tim Steiner. They easily defeated Shawn Ricketson in the August primary to advance to the November election.

“It really highlights the importance of every single vote,” she said. “It’s going to be a tight race. That’s what we heard from the primary.”

Long, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from Eastern Washington University, has been working as director of software engineering for ENGIE Impact for the last several years. Steiner, who retired from the Cheney Fire Department this summer as a battalion chief, spent 38 years with the department.

Both candidates agree that there’s work to be done in the city, particularly with the infrastructure. That includes the water system, which often has water use restrictions in the summer.

“Cheney is not on the Spokane Aquifer,” Steiner said. “We have a well system. Water is a huge issue out here. Some of the pumps are aging. It’s expensive to rehab these wells, but it’s something we have to do.”

Long said different areas of the city have been having different issues, including brown water and low water pressure.

“When I bought my house, it came with a water filtration system,” she said. “I had to put in my own pressure tank to get my sprinklers to work.”

Steiner is looking forward to the completion of the city’s purple pipe project sometime next year. The system will bring treated wastewater to schools and parks for irrigation use. “That’s going to take a tremendous burden off the water system,” he said.

Steiner said the city’s police station also needs improvements.

“Our police officers are currently quite cramped in their current location,” he said.

The city has been working on some small improvements, including replacing the driveway at the city’s fire station. It was built in 1972, when fire engines were smaller and lighter than they are now, Steiner said.

“It’s been sorely needed for years,” he said of the driveway. “There were small sinkholes.”

The city needs to continue making infrastructure improvements, he said. “We’re working on those infrastructure issues, but we’ve got to keep them going,” he said.

Both candidates expressed concern about ongoing staffing issues in the city. The city administrator, Jark Schuller, resigned in August after a vote of no confidence by all six city employee unions in June. At first Mayor Chris Grover was doing Schuller’s duties before two interim co-city administrators were appointed.

“That’s not a long-term solution,” Long said. “A city administrator role is a very important role with the city. It feels very complacent, that the city is just going to run itself. I’m worried about it.”

One of the issues that led to the vote of no confidence was how the rollout of the city’s new payroll system was handled, Steiner said. Many employees received incorrect paychecks, creating uncertainty for them and more work for city staff trying to fix the check errors. The city administrator wasn’t responding to employee complaints about the issue, Steiner said.

“There’s been a lot of turmoil with finance,” Steiner said. “They’re trying a number of efficiency changes and there’s been some hiccups. There wasn’t enough work on the front end with the unions to make the transition smooth.”

Cheney is lacking a city planner, Long said, and the city’s planning commission has not met since the previous planner left. The planning commission, which usually meets once a month, is in charge of making recommendations to the city council on a variety of issues, including some types of permits and zoning issues. The city’s website lists no meeting minutes since Feb. 10.

“I don’t really understand how we’re moving forward with zoning changes and other things you need a planning commission for,” Long said.

The city has been without a permanent police chief since the previous chief, Rick Beghtol, retired. An interim chief, Chris Oakes, was appointed in early March. Long said she’s not sure what has been happening with the search for a new chief. “I don’t really understand it,” she said. “It feels very confusing to me as an outsider. Why is this happening? Why can’t we get answers? This impacts our residents.”

Steiner said it can be difficult to find qualified people who are willing to live and work in a small town and he believes that’s part of the problem. “Money is a big issue,” he said. “To be competitive for city administrators and police chiefs, it costs a lot of money. It’s tough.”

The silence around the search for people to fill key positions shows the city’s ongoing lack of transparency and communication, Long said. One of her goals is to bring visibility and accessibility to the city’s decisions so people can be informed and participate in their municipal government, Long said.

Long said she believes her technological background would be an asset if she is elected to the city council. “I want to do right by our community,” she said. “I want to give back and this feels like the way I can do it. I hope to earn folks’ votes because I’m working hard to serve all of them.”

Steiner said he wants to serve the community he’s lived in nearly all his life. “I don’t have any agendas,” he said. “I have a community I was born and raised in, and want to make sure it’s a strong community, a safe community for families to be in. I’m here to serve the citizens. I served them as a firefighter for 38 years and I want to continue serving them.”