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No one was more shocked to see Bob McCaslin’s name appear on the November general election ballot than Spokane Valley Mayor Richard Munson.
Unchallenged when he ran four years earlier as a council member, Munson – like many politically minded conservatives in the Valley have done for the past 30 years – cast his vote for McCaslin last year when he ran for another four-year term as 4th District state senator. So it seemed more than a little improbable that the same Bob McCaslin was looking to unseat him from his job at Spokane Valley City Hall.
“I called Bob that night and asked him, ‘Is that your son running against me?’ He said, ‘No it’s me,’” Munson related last summer when McCaslin filed for office. “I asked, “Why, Bob?’”
McCaslin says his campaign against Munson isn’t personal. But the “why” has been a question that many have wondered for the past four months. McCaslin, 83, has said he doesn’t plan to give up his job in Olympia and doesn’t plan on missing many council meetings, if elected, once the legislative session starts in January.
“That’s the one question that keeps coming up – whether I can do both jobs at once,” he said. “Obviously, I think I can.”
McCaslin says he intends on staying in Olympia during the session but returning to Spokane Valley for Tuesday night meetings “for important votes.”
“I can be here if needed,” he said.
After three unexcused absences, city councils in Washington state can have members removed. McCaslin says he hopes that wouldn’t happen.
McCaslin says he’s in favor of sprucing up Spokane Valley’s busiest arterial, but isn’t keen on the approach the council has taken with the Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan. For that reason, McCaslin allied himself with the Positive Change organization that is also backing council candidates Brenda Grassel, Dean Grafos, Tom Towey and Gary Schimmels. The latter two are unopposed.
When no one stepped forward to oppose Munson during the June filing period, McCaslin said he was asked to do so by members of Positive Change and he agreed.
Though the lines between the group and those seeking disincorporation blur somewhat – Grafos, in particular, has been allied with both camps – McCaslin says he does not wish to dissolve the nearly 7-year-old city.
“We’ve just got a different way we want to do things,” McCaslin said of his alliance with Positive Change, adding that disincorporation proponents and many Sprague Avenue business owners also are in disagreement over the SARP. “There are plenty of people who aren’t happy with the city.”
McCaslin said he favors letting the private sector dictate what happens on Sprague Avenue, saying that businesses like Winco and Rite Aid (at Sprague and Pines) located to the arterial under the old zoning. He also isn’t in favor of a new city hall, which Munson and other council members have advocated, in a new city center in the University City area.
“We should continue to rent,” he said. “That’s a key difference between us.”
The state senator points out that Spokane Valley’s future budget projections show the city operating in the red by 2013 – a situation that isn’t likely to improve anytime soon.
“We can’t keep spending,” he said. “Revenues are down.”
McCaslin has been a Spokane Valley resident for 55 years and was first elected to the state Senate to represent the 4th District in 1980. He was re-elected last year, and his current term expires in 2013.
McCaslin has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and economics from Washington State University. He has worked as a real estate broker, a production manager at Kaiser Aluminum and was a fire commissioner for the Spokane Valley Fire Department.
While still stunned that a fellow Republican would target him in this campaign, Munson – who was appointed mayor by the rest of the council in 2008 – says that McCaslin and the rest of the candidates supported by Positive Change have no clear agenda.
“It’s not about the candidates,” he said. “It’s about having a plan. We have a plan. It might not be a perfect plan – but it’s a starting point.”
Munson said that while he manned a booth at Valleyfest, few city residents had any comments about the SARP. There were some concerns about changing the direction of Sprague/Appleway and how to pay for it, but that’s one of the things the council has been discussing – starting this week.
The council, as part of its deliberations over the SARP last summer, opted to turn Sprague and Appleway back to two-way arterials between University and Dishman-Mica roads. There was no date to enact the idea, as there were no dollars earmarked to do so. On Tuesday, the council learned it will cost about $35.4 million to for the total conversion, with $24 million alone needed to extend Appleway to Sullivan.
Munson said that any major authorization of taxpayer money do any of the work on Sprague – or build a new city hall, for that matter – would take a vote of the people.
“That’s always been my position,” he said, adding that if the work is done in increments and leveraged with federal and state tax dollars. “I don’t think we’ll need to bond.”
Federal dollars could also pay for a “green building” – something with little or no environmental impact – for a new city hall. If it were to happen, it would be a focal point for civic pride that would actually cost taxpayers less than the current lease at Redwood Plaza.
“That would be a pretty good deal,” Munson said.
The important thing to remember, he adds, is that “none of this is going to happen soon.” As the economy continues to struggle, the city will continue to operate leanly and evaluate its myriad of contracts with outside agencies to provide services – including the often-rocky relationship with Spokane County.
“In December, we will start our negotiations for a new public safety contract,” Munson said. “We need experienced people on the council to do that.”
Munson says that, if elected, he would likely serve only one more term. At 66, he sees travel and retirement from politics in his future. Until then, there is still plenty of unfinished business ahead.
“At some point – maybe it will take 20 years – growth in Spokane Valley is either going to explode. Or it will stop,” he said. “With the right people in place, Spokane Valley could surpass Spokane.”
Munson has a bachelor’s degree in political science from San Jose State University. He also has a master’s in business management from the University of Arkansas. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1996 to 1993 and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also is a retired stockbroker.
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By
Mike Huffman
