Finalists display a clear difference

Spokane County commissioners can have a new civil service commissioner who thinks a sheriff’s detective was properly fired for flashing a young woman. Or they can have one who thinks he was properly reinstated.

That contrast emerged Monday when commissioners interviewed two finalists for the opening created when they declined to reappoint one of two civil service commissioners who voted to overturn Detective Joseph Mastel’s dismissal.

Mastel admitted exposing himself to an Airway Heights coffee stand employee while off-duty last June, and Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich fired him. In January, the county Civil Service Commission converted Mastel’s dismissal to a one-year suspension followed by retirement, entitling Mastel to be paid for unused sick leave.

Later in January, county commissioners gave civil service Commissioner John R. Shagen the boot when he came up for reappointment. Shagen was one of two civil service commissioners who made the controversial decision while the third panelist abstained.

Knezovich appealed the decision to Spokane County Superior Court, where a hearing is scheduled June 1.

County commissioners asked candidates Yvonne Lopez-Morton and Nancy Voorhees what they thought about the Civil Service Commission decision.

“I was very disappointed in that decision,” said Lopez-Morton, who manages after-school activities in Spokane Public Schools’ “Safe Schools, Healthy Students” program.

“I thought it was totally appropriate for that person to be fired for that offense,” she said, citing concerns about sexual abuse. “When you’re in law enforcement, you’re supposed to protect us. I have high expectations of law enforcement.”

Voorhees, a supervisor for Inland Northwest Health Services, thought Mastel’s rights were violated.

“My assumption is that the letter of the law was not followed,” Voorhees said. “That person hadn’t had due process. … It was clear that the process hadn’t been followed, from my perspective.”

Then she gave commissioners some public relations advice: Only one person should speak to the media in matters like the Mastel case, so the message is consistent.

County officials should have “gotten together and said here are our talking points,” she suggested. “We do that all the time.”

Both Voorhees and Lopez-Morton are prolific civic volunteers.

Lopez-Martin, chairwoman of the state Commission on Hispanic Affairs, is involved in so many organizations – she listed 38 on her resume – that county commissioners questioned whether she could spare enough time. She said she is paring back her activities and “would certainly make a 100 percent commitment” to the Civil Service Commission.

Voorhees said she has “a tremendous amount of flexibility” in her schedule.

County commissioners winnowed Voorhees, Lopez-Martin and four others from 38 applicants by voting for resumes with names removed. Commissioners thought at first that only Lopez-Martin had gotten a vote from all three of them, but they later discovered Voorhees also got three votes.

Liberty Lake City Administrator Lewis Griffin and attorney Brian Whitaker each got two votes, while Washington Mutual Bank security officer Jerry Lane and self-employed legal process server Shannon Sullivan each got one vote. Those four semifinalists aren’t to be interviewed unless the two front-runners are eliminated.

Commissioners said they hope to make a decision later this week.