The mayor responds...

John,
 
I received a copy of your email to the City Council and will be providing you with a more detailed reply shortly to your inquiry. 
 
Always feel free to contact the City Council members about things but also please also feel free to contact me or Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch at any time if you have questions, suggestions or simply comments, especially when issues come up in the area of administration.  By Charter the City Council is responsible for policy and the Mayor is responsible for administration. 
 
While the City Council approved the contract for the new phone system, it was on the advice of my office that they did so.  The City Council should be concerned if something isn’t working properly or if they feel they are not provided adequate information so we will be answering your questions to them also.
 
In the last 17 months I’ve strived to open the administration up to the Council, employees and the public and believe we have made significant progress there.  For example, I’m told the previous administration forbade administrative staff from communicating with the Council without the knowledge and/or permission of the Mayor or City Administrator.  I immediately changed that policy when I took office because of my belief that the Council should be fully informed and should be able to ask staff any question without restriction.  It made no sense to me to deny the policy making body of the City access to important information.  If a Governor had done that to me when I was a Legislator I would have been rightfully outraged.  Even in this time when the Council has asked me to resign the administration is fully maintaining the Council’s right to unrestricted access to staff and information so they can do their jobs.
 
Now regarding your questions; they are good questions that deserve answers.  We will get those answers to you as soon as possible.  Rest assured that the new phone system was reviewed for several years before a decision was made to buy it.  The money was programmed into the budget as a one time expense to purchase the system and had no relation to layoffs anywhere in City government.  One time monies should never be used for ongoing expenses like salaries or benefits.  Primarily they should be used to improve systems and/or lower ongoing costs.
 
I’ll see that you soon get the answers to all your questions and again please feel free to contact me at anytime regarding anything. 
 
 
James E. West
Mayor
City of Spokane
W. 808 Spokane Falls Blvd
Spokane, WA  99201-3335
(509) 625-6250