City's investigation bill balloons by $17,000

By John Vlahovich
Spokane Public Radio

Last year’s city council investigation into the activities of former Mayor Jim West is setting Spokane back nearly $37,000 – or about $17,000 more than originally expected.

Last summer, at the height of the West controversy, members of the Spokane city council took it upon themselves to investigate the former mayor. They hired a Bellevue attorney Mark Busto, agreeing to pay his firm $20,000.

But the investigation became complicated – especially when the former mayor went to court to resist opening personal documents to public scrutiny – and costs ballooned. Busto’s final bill? $37,000.

Some on the council wondered why they weren’t told when Busto’s work exceeded the agreed-to amount.

Councilman Brad Stark went as far as urging the council to reject the additional charge, arguing that a contract should be a contract.

“It’s like hiring someone to remodel your bathroom and they say they’re going to charge you $20,000 and they come back 85 percent more,” he said. “This is out of hand. We had a contract in mind and it said here again, total compensation shall not exceed $20,000.”

Current Mayor Dennis Hession accepts some of the responsibility.

“I was the one who was charged by the council to make contact with Mr. Busto, to negotiate a contract with him,” he said. “So there was an ongoing contact with him and I was helping to make decision when they would ask me how I wanted them to proceed.”

Hession told council members that he had been busy with other duties, especially in November as the mayoral recall heated up and the council investigation neared its climax. Busto’s November billing makes up much of the cost overrun.

Council members eventually agreed to pay up. But Rob Crow said they should learn from this and insist that future personal service contracts require they be notified whenever costs exceed the original agreed-upon figure.