Mielke running to further cooperation in the county

By David Rey
Editor

Nearly a decade after walking away from a bright career in state politics for family reasons, Todd Mielke is working at convincing Spokane County voters that he’s the man to replace retiring County Commissioner John Roskelley.

The 39-year-old former Sixth District state representative had initially decided on trying to return to public office by seeking the congressional seat being vacated by George Nethercutt, but a crowded GOP field for that position and a chance to serve at a more local political level changed his mind.

Mielke made his reputation as a consensus builder during his House terms in Olympia, brokering deals across the aisle for tax relief and health care reform during a time when the Democrats controlled all three state government branches.

He wants to bring those cooperative skills to the County Courthouse, where bickering between the county and the incorporated areas within it has been commonplace over the past decade.

"No more can we afford to have turf wars," Mielke said. "We need to look at coordination and cooperation – joint ventures."

Mielke said he understands that many of the smaller communities and cities in the county feel like they are being ignored and forgotten by the county government.

"That’s not something I want to see continue," he said.

The Eastern Washington University grad said he still has a soft place in his heart for the West Plains area and he wants to see the county residents here get a fairer shake from the commissioners. He said fostering a cooperative state in the county is one of his major issues.

That cooperative state begins with working in a faithful manner with the local government officials in the cities and towns, he explained.

"You treat other elected officials as peers, not like they are below you," he said. "We need the communities as partners."

Mielke said the county is entering a time when it will face many challenges. High on that list of challenges is the continued evolution of the city of Spokane Valley into a self-sufficient entity.

Currently, Spokane Valley contracts out many of its governmental responsibilities with the county, keeping in place the people and organization that took care of them before incorporation.

Mielke said future commissioners need to make decisions with the understanding that the Valley made a conscious decision to go out on their own when they voted for incorporation. As such, they need to keep taking gradual ownership of their responsibilities, he added.

"But, I don’t want to stick the county in a financial crisis over it," he cautioned.

On intergovernmental issues close to West Plains folks’ hearts, like police dispatching and recreational availability, he said he sees a great opportunity to team up and find solutions that works for both sides without putting a financial bind on anyone.

Efficient operation of the existing governmental operations in the county can provide some room for compromises, he explained.

Mielke said he wants clear goals set for all of the county departments combined with an active ownership of those goals by the departmental managers. Reaching goals requires setting priorities, he added.

Those three priorities as he sees them are: keeping people safe, keeping the existing infrastructure in good shape and serving the citizens.

Improving the economic development in the county and raising the county’s revenues through economic growth would help in the process, he said. There’s not much chance of people in the county approving tax hikes, so the revenues will have to be improved through more economic activity, he added.

"At this point, there’s not a huge public appetite to ask people to pay more in taxes," he said.

Mielke said he feels like it’s time to get back into public service again after spending the past couple years working as a lobbyist.

During his time as a lobbyist he helped get several capital projects through the legislative process for EWU, such as Cheney and Senior halls. He also successfully lobbied to get the funding for the Eastern Washington Crime Lab, which is also being built on the EWU campus.

David Rey can be contacted at drey@cheneyfreepress.com