Walker’s future uncertain

The future of Spokane Valley Police Chief Cal Walker remains unclear.

Having lost the GOP sheriff’s primary to his boss, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, Walker says he’s evaluating his future. Knezovich says he, too, is evaluating Walker’s future.

“I can tell you that I have extended the opportunity to Cal to stay on the command staff,” said Knezovich, whose department provides law enforcement service to Spokane Valley under a contract that also includes designating a sheriff’s commander to serve as the city’s police chief. “One of the most important parts of any management team is the ability to work together as a team. I’m evaluating to make sure we are on the same page so we aren’t sending mixed messages to our employees.”

Spokane Valley leaders say they want Walker to remain on the job and argue that the contract gives them the power to keep Walker over the sheriff’s wishes – a view not held by Knezovich.

“I’m taking a good look at the whole situation, and we haven’t had a lot of time to see what the future holds,” Walker said. “I don’t believe we have had the depth of conversation that needs to happen yet.”

Meanwhile, other questions about Walker’s status within the Sheriff’s Office are being considered as well.

Next week, the county’s civil service commission will consider how far down the chain of command Walker would be demoted if he left the department’s command staff.

Would he return to sergeant, which is the rank he held when former Sheriff Mark Sterk promoted him to his command staff in 2002 as a captain? Or would he become a lieutenant, a rank Sterk gave him for one day before returning him to his higher command staff rank?

The difference: about $15,000 a year.

As the Spokane Valley police chief and sheriff’s inspector, Walker earns $102,353 a year. Top scale for sheriff’s lieutenants is $90,384, while top scale for sergeants is $76,085.

Walker and Knezovich say they didn’t ask the commission to take up the topic, though it was up for discussion in the department a few months ago when tension between them caused speculation that Knezovich would attempt to fire Walker.

Knezovich said he hasn’t decided if he will keep Walker as chief. If he chooses to hire someone else, he said, he believes a showdown with the Spokane Valley City Council is possible.

Spokane Valley’s elected leaders say they remain happy with Walker’s performance and don’t want a new chief.

“Unilateral action by the sheriff would result in the contract being broken,” said City Councilman Richard Munson.

Walker said he understands the chief plays a subordinate role to the sheriff, but his boss, under the contract, is City Manager Dave Mercier – not Knezovich. The autonomy of the city is more important than who holds the chief’s job, he said.

The contract between the Sheriff’s Office and city describes how a chief is named but doesn’t say how one is removed. For the hiring, the sheriff recommends three candidates who have at least the rank of captain to the city manager, who makes the final selection.

Valley leaders argue that because the city manager makes the final selection, he also is the one who would remove the chief. County officials say, however, that because chief candidates must be captains, a sheriff could remove the police chief by pulling the chief’s captain rank.

Munson said he doubts the city would remove Walker to abate possible tension between two former election opponents. At the same time, he said, the city does not want a showdown with the new sheriff.

“We will not do that (remove Walker) for a political situation. It must be for cause,” Munson said. “We are trying very, very hard to maintain a very high level of cooperation between the city and the Sheriff’s Office.”