Millwood moves to bar Mankin

After years of tense council meetings, the installation of safety glass at the town hall and a lawsuit against city officials tossed out by a judge, the town of Millwood has had enough of Robert Mankin.

In an unusual legal move, the town of 1,645 filed a complaint for injunction last week that, if granted, would bar the longtime resident and former mayoral candidate from the town hall.

The legal motion alleges that police have been asked to supervise public meetings because of his conduct. It says that Mankin has threatened the town’s employees and once tried to run a city vehicle off the road with his truck. He’s followed employees home, the motion alleges, and has photographed and videotaped them in public.

“His behavior just makes it really hard to effectively run the city,” said Mayor Dan Mork.

A judge could require Mankin to stay out of the town hall and 1,000 feet from Millwood employees.

He would be banned from public meetings, and the only contact he could have with the city would be through the mail.

“It’s an unusual step, but not unheard of,” said Milt Rowland, an assistant Spokane city attorney and law professor who serves on the board of the Washington State Association of Municipal Attorneys.

After a brief look at cases around the state, Rowland said several municipalities have requested restraining orders to protect individual city employees. Although he couldn’t immediately find an instance of a resident being banned from city meetings altogether, “the cases make it very clear that that is the appropriate remedy,” Rowland said.

Mankin’s relationship with the town of Millwood has been confrontational for years.

Mankin ran against Mork for the mayor position formerly held by Jeanne Batson. Before and during the campaign, Mankin accused town officials of holding drinking parties in the town hall, selling town equipment without bids and numerous other municipal malfeasances that have never been proved.

At Town Council and Planning Commission meetings, Mankin regularly accused public officials of various wrongdoings and was often insulting and vulgar, according to the motion.

“These are volunteers. They’re doing an important and time-consuming job, and they were being berated,” Mork said.

In 2004 Millwood installed thick glass at its service window after employees said they often felt threatened by Mankin during his regular visits to town hall.

Mankin did not return a message Tuesday for comment, but in the past he has said repeatedly that he is not a violent person and that city officials have it out for him.

In February he sued Town Clerk Eva Colomb and Councilman Brian Votava for harassment, claiming they wrongfully had police remove him from council meetings and circulated a negative campaign flyer while he was running for mayor last fall.

The court disagreed, saying there was no basis in fact or law to grant an order of protection to Mankin, and ordered him to pay $500 in court and attorney’s fees.

Mankin was notified of the legal action on Monday and the case had not been assigned to a judge at that time, according to the town’s lawyer.