When the Spokane Valley City Council reconvenes next Tuesday night, it will be absent one member: Rose Dempsey has stepped down from the governing body 11 months before completing her first term in office.
Citing an inability to come to consensus on many issues with the majority of the council and health issues, Dempsey said it was time to call it quits. She announced her resignation Wednesday morning shortly before this week’s edition of the Spokane Valley News Herald went to press.
Dempsey -- along with fellow Council Member Bill Gothmann, who up for re-election next fall – often found herself on the losing end of many council decisions, including Tuesday night’s first reading of an ordinance that would impose an “emergency amendment” to the city’s comprehensive plan. The law, which is up for final approval next Tuesday night, would strip the “city center” zoning in the area of University City shopping center and replace it with a more broad “mixed use” designation.
The council now must appoint a replacement for Dempsey, who was elected in November 2007. That position will be open for election in November’s general election.
Council Member Dean Grafos, whose views were often at odds with Dempsey’s, said he values the time they worked together.
“I thank her for her public service and I wish her and her family well,” he said.
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TheSpokane Valley News Herald