Mayor Should Thank the Council

All those who agree that the Spokane City Council has just saved Mayor Mary Verner from a huge embarrassment raise their hands. Thought so.

The Mayor was pushing council members to put a $27 million bond issue on the November ballot to pay for a new police evidence locker and animal shelter. I recently suggested that Verner may have a good idea but that she needed to slow down, create a sound case and persuasive communication strategy before asking voters to spend that much money. Why? Her idea which popped up about two weeks ago needs 60% approval---she got less than half that from the City Council. Imagine what the voters would have done.

So now Verner must take advantage of the extra time to build her case which should include:

· Researching and deciding exactly what we need and why.
· Getting unanimous City Council support for her plan.
· Clear, consistent and compelling messages that resonate with voters.
· Creating a robust public outreach and media strategy.
· Finding the right team to run what is tantamount to a political campaign.

Council members seem to agree that we may need to spend millions of dollars on these proposals and have offered to work with the Mayor to prioritize what to build and how to pay for them. Verner needs to optimize this cooperative spirit and move forward as soon as possible. Otherwise, stalled momentum and growing opposition will team up to stop what might be necessary public benefits. Spokane has seen that too often---let’s not see it again.