SEQUIM — Evidence grew Wednesday that Bob Spinks’ days as Sequim’s police chief may be numbered.
Spinks, notified Tuesday he was turned down for a police chief opening in Lebanon, Ore., will meet with interview panels and city officials for police chief openings in West Richland on Monday and Pullman on May 12, officials in those cities said Wednesday.
He is a finalist for both positions, the officials said.
Also on Wednesday, City Manager Steve Burkett said he and Spinks will probably release a joint statement about Spinks’ future by Friday afternoon.
Spinks is one of six finalist-candidates in West Richland, population 10,500, and Pullman, population 27,600, only about 6,000 of whom are not connected to Washington State University as students or faculty and other staff, Pullman City Supervisor John Sherman said.
Spinks earns about $86,000 a year in Sequim, he said Tuesday.
Pullman, West Richland
The job in Pullman pays between $75,816 and $92,400, Sherman said, adding that Spinks was one of 22 applicants for the position.
By Aug. 1, the city hopes to have a replacement for Ted Weatherly, who is retiring after 30 years as police chief, Sherman said.
“Number 1 is integrity,” Sherman said of qualifications for the position, pointing to Weatherly as the model.
The West Richland job was vacated by Police Chief Layne Erdman, who earned $89,400.
He was asked to resign by newly elected Mayor Donna Noski in January on her first day on the job.
In an interview Wednesday, Noski would not comment on why she asked for Erdman’s resignation.
KEPR-TV in Pasco reported in January that Noski was concerned with police department expenditures when she forced Erdman to resign.
Noski said Wednesday she will interview Spinks and the other five candidates one-on-one next week, hopes to make a decision “at least” by May 14 and wants a new police chief on board by June 1.
Said Noski:
“I want a strong leader for the department, someone who works with department heads, participates in the community and the region with our regional law enforcement agencies, someone who is a good fit for me and for the council and for the city as a whole.
‘Aggressively’ seeking
Spinks, 51, said Tuesday that he is “aggressively” seeking employment elsewhere after five years as Sequim’s top law enforcement officer and seven months as interim city manager spanning late 2008 and early 2009.
Members of the City Council were not told by Burkett of Spinks’ search for a new job.
Mayor Ken Hays said Wednesday he was unaware Spinks was a finalist for any of the three jobs, adding he was not bothered that Burkett did not inform the council about Spinks’ efforts to leave Sequim.
“The chief is planning to move on, and I wish him well,” Hays said.
Spinks did not return repeated calls Tuesday after the Lebanon assistant city manager notified him he was out of the running for the Lebanon job.
On Wednesday, Spinks again did not return repeated calls for comment on the Pullman and West Richland jobs.
Spinks has said in the past that he wanted to retire in Sequim but also acknowledged looking for employment elsewhere.
Burkett, city manager since mid-October, would not comment Wednesday on the circumstances under which Spinks might leave his position or when that might be.
Probable announcement
“Within the next 48 hours, we will probably be making an announcement and be answering your questions about that,” Burkett said.
“[Spinks] and I have been talking about the next step in his career, about what jobs might be good matches, what jobs might not be good matches.”
Burkett said Spinks had informed him of the three job applications.
“Those are the ones I am aware of, but it’s possible there are more,” Burkett said.
In a Peninsula Daily News interview on Tuesday, Burkett suggested that the police department’s budget may be trimmed to fund city land-use planning.
In an Oct. 18, 2009, Peninsula Daily News interview, Spinks described his difficulties in dealing with a City Council that saw four new members elected to the seven-person panel two years earlier, in November 2007.
“It has been a rocky two years,” he said then.
Hays was among those elected in November 2007.
Concerns about growth and development drove the sea change on the council, Hays said Wednesday.
“Sequim is changing from a small rural town to a small rural city,” he said.
“The police department has grown tremendously over the last five years, and I don’t think it needs to grow anymore,” Hays added.
“Bob grew it aggressively in anticipation of dramatic population changes which I never believed were realistic and obviously did not happen and obviously won’t happen in the near future.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladaily news.com.
