Police, city hall among issues debated by Deer Park city council candidates

Deer Park voters have a choice between a longtime resident and a more recent arrival in a race for a City Council seat in November.

Councilwoman Naomi Diaz, who holds the seat, is not running for re-election.

Candidate Scott Campbell, who moved to Deer Park with his wife in January 2019, has spent time in Hawaii, Arizona, and Nevada.

Campbell is running on public safety and fiscal responsibility.

“I’m conservative, not a Republican, not a Democrat,” Campbell said. “I’m a big penny pincher, and I would like to spend our tax money wisely.”

Campbell said one of his strong points is being accessible to Deer Park citizens.

“I really want to be able to communicate with the people of Deer Park and be available to anybody who wants to talk or, you know, wants to email me or something like that,” he said.

Candidate Diane Pfaeffle has lived in the Deer Park area for 20 years.

“I’ve watched it grow and I’ve shopped here and, you know, this is my town,” she said.

Pfaeffle considers herself a moderate. A big issue for Pfaeffle is ensuring Deer Park’s schools, infrastructure and housing keep up with its recent growth.

“We’re working on building a stable infrastructure to accommodate the houses that we’re building,” she said. “I think building houses is important to keeping the town alive, but I also think that if we’re going to maintain our identity as a town, we’re going to have to start to build community things that keep the residents here without having to travel to Spokane.”

Deer Park’s City Hall was built in 1911 as the town’s original high school. Now in need of repairs, the city has started to explore plans for an $18.5 million renovation that would preserve parts of the historic building and provide space for Deer Park City Council, Chamber of Commerce, the Sheriff’s Office and a senior center.

At this point, the City has not taken concrete steps to move forward with the plan and the city is years away from potential construction. If the City Hall is one day renovated, the idea will be brought to the general public for a vote.

Some on Deer Park City Council believe the City Hall’s condition should be addressed sooner. Others believe the issue can wait five to 10 years.

Campbell said previous councils have tended to leave the problem to future council members and said the hall will need to be renovated eventually. But he added that $18.5 million is no small cost.

“If they did a bond for the full thing, that would be approximately $500 or $600 per person per year for 30 years. That’s a lot,” he said. “What I’d like to see is to find grants and stuff like that to bring that cost down.”

Pfaeffle says renovating the city hall shouldn’t be the priority.

“The City Hall employees are happy where they are. There’s no doubt that eventually we’ll need to build a new City Hall, but I didn’t think that the price tag that they were quoting was really appropriate for a town of 4,600,” she said. “There’s a lot of other things we could do with that money, and I’m sure we could build an adequate City Hall for less than that.”

Pfaeffle said the city should turn its focus elsewhere in the midst of the town’s recent growth.

“I just think that I would rather spend that money on something that more people got a benefit out of it and I’m not sure City Hall was that thing,” she said.

Pfaeffle said potentially higher priorities are investing in the city’s parks and recreation and expanding Deer Park’s sports complex.

“I would like to see Deer Park establish a parks and recreation department and start to plan and build for those types of facilities,” Pfaeffle said.

Pfaeffle said Deer Park doesn’t give its citizens enough to do.

“We need places and things for children and adults to do things in town,” Pfaeffle said. “If you go out on Facebook and you read, everybody says the kids don’t have enough to do, so I’d like to do something about that.”

Pfaeffle said the city’s facilities aren’t enough.

“We have an aging swimming pool, we have a skate park that’s located in a place where it disturbs a lot of residents,” she said.

Campbell also noted the city’s skate park. Swinyard Park, located within a few blocks of Deer Park City Hall, has been the subject of surrounding neighborhood reports of crime and noise, including a recent incident of a car driving through the park.

“I don’t want to see that happen again,” Campbell said. “I want to make sure everybody is safe in our parks.”

In recent months, members of Deer Park City Council have broached the idea of the city creating its own independent police department.

The city of Deer Park pays the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office yearly for the service of three deputies. Until recently, that number was two.

While these officers are stationed in Deer Park, at any moment deputies can be drawn out of the city for calls in the wide surrounding area. Officers in the city serve both Deer Park and parts of northern Spokane County, and coverage is not 24 hours.

After gaining a third officer, council members dropped a proposal to create an independent police department. However, some council members were hoping for up to 10 officers to serve the city, and with Deer Park’s increasing population, the possibility may become relevant again in the coming months.

Pfaeffle believes an independent Deer Park police department is an unnecessary expense.

“I don’t think right at the moment that we have enough crime to start our own police department,” she said, “We seem to be getting adequate coverage now from the Sheriff’s Office.”

Pfaeffle noted the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office has resources an independent Deer Park police department would not be able to afford. Campbell, on the other hand, does not believe that Deer Park’s current police force is adequate.

“It’s not an issue of quality; it’s an issue of quantity,” Campbell said.

Campbell said he would want to choose the least pricey option when it comes to Deer Park’s police force.

“I want to see whether it’s more economical to have more sheriffs on staff for us or to start our own police department,” he said.