Just after 3 p.m. this afternoon, Mayor Nadine Woodward sent an email to city staff offering an update in the investigation into previously unspecified conduct by City Administrator Johnnie Perkins.
In the brief email, Woodward said the investigation is now closed, and had found “evidence that the city administrator violated the city’s sexual harassment policy.” In the email, Woodward said the behavior was unacceptable and that “I accepted his resignation effective immediately.”
The email doesn’t go into much more detail, though use of the plural “the employees who came forward” suggests that either there were multiple accusations of harassment or at least that several people raised concerns. The email thanked those employees for their “courage” in coming forward and their “belief in our policies and processes that we would do the right thing.”
The City Administrator is the most powerful non-elected official in Spokane, serving as the city’s chief operating officer. When Perkins was first hired in 2021, he was coming off hot from a controversy in San Diego, where he played a similar role of deputy chief operating officer for the city. At the time, The Inlander’s Daniel Walters reported that Perkins played a role in the shoddy renovation of a 19-story city building that was later declared a public nuisance and abandoned by the city.
The mayor’s email also said that Garrett Jones, the former Parks Director who had been elevated to acting city administrator after Perkins was placed on leave during the investigation, has been elevated to interim city administrator.
Per Spokane city code and Spokane city charter, interim positions in the Mayor’s cabinet are supposed to be temporary appointments limited to 180 days (and may be extended another 180 with consent of City Council).
But as we reported on in May, interim roles in Woodward’s government have a way of becoming essentially permanent. City council has the right to approve permanent appointments, and council members have complained that, by keeping interim leaders in their role longer than the allowable time, the mayor is effectively avoiding the council’s mandated oversight role.
Just after 4 p.m., city Communications Director Brian Coddington sent out a press release confirming the resignation, and using identical language to that used by the Mayor in her email.
The full text of the email sent by Mayor Woodward this afternoon
