Editorial: Valley City Council opts for secrecy over service

It’s not unheard of for municipalities to withhold the names of applicants for top-level jobs, but the Spokane Valley City Council has taken government secrecy to a head-scratching extreme.

After last fall’s council elections realigned the political makeup of the body, one of the first casualties – and the most predictable – was City Manager Dave Mercier, whom the new majority forced out. The search for a replacement attracted 26 candidates, some of whom were interviewed Wednesday morning in a session that was closed to the public.

Under state law, the City Council can either name those applicants or keep their identities confidential. The council chose secrecy.

Many cities, counties and special-purpose districts do the same in the belief that qualified candidates might not enter the pool for fear their current employer would hold it against them. We understand that rationale, even if we don’t agree with it.

But once the process arrives at face-to-face interviews, the time for professional faint-heartedness is over. A city manager candidate who lacks confidence in his or her own marketability at that point shouldn’t be in the running anyway.

Nevertheless, the Spokane Valley City Council, permitted by law to disclose or withhold the names, chose continued secrecy.

That’s in contrast with the practice most local governmental entities follow in a comparable situation. Not only do most release the names, some even parade the candidates out in public forums so the citizens, who ultimately pay the salaries, can ask their own questions and form their own conclusions.

Spokane Valley officials might have mitigated the problem by at least providing anonymous details about the candidates’ qualifications. But they didn’t.

There’s more. Asked how many candidates were to be interviewed, Human Resources Manager John Whitehead refused to say. Just the number? Nope, not even the number.

“We don’t believe we can release that information,” he said.

No self-governing system can flourish if its elected representatives and municipal officials obscure the public’s view of what is going on. Given a choice between withholding or disclosing, between protecting job applicants or serving the public’s right to know, the Spokane Valley City Council made the wrong choice.