Spokane city’s housing officials continue the trend of employee turnover that has plagued the city since at least 2021, with two more resignations in the Community, Housing and Human Services (CHHS) department.
Last December, RANGE wrote about the abrupt resignation of Kim McCollim, the former director of the Neighborhood, Housing, and Human Services (NHHS) Division, which houses the CHHS department. She was the third NHHS director to resign in as many years, following John Hall’s resignation (and subsequent 27-page memo of recommendations for how to fix the department) in September 2022 and Cupid Alexander’s resignation (and allegations of racism by the city) in June 2021.
Dawn Kinder, who replaced McCollim as NHHS director earlier this year, said that since Mayor Lisa Brown took office, four existing vacancies in the CHHS have been filled. Those positions include the director of the department and the manager of the regional Community Management Information System, two positions that have been vacant since Jenn Cerecedes and Daniel Ramos left in September — and they are in the interview process with candidates for three other positions.
Now, two more officials have followed McCollim — Christy Jeffers and Richard Culton, who both retired this year. Jeffers was the Housing & Community Development Program Manager. Culton, who was hired in November 2022, is finishing out a few weeks as the CHHS Operations Manager before he officially leaves.
In her retirement letter, submitted on March 18, Jeffers wrote that she was proud of the work they’d done, but also said that, “It has been very interesting to see the differences in how federal funds have been used in the past while learning how to remedy findings and concerns that resulted from those differences.”
Culton’s retirement letter was shorter, and stated that while he had enjoyed working for the city, he was also looking forward to retirement. Neither Culton or Jeffers could be reached for comment.
Finding and keeping a full staff for NHHS and CHHS has been a multi-year struggle. Brian Walker, Communications Director for NHHS, told RANGE that things had been looking up in the new year. Before Jeffers and Culton announced their retirements, “the [CHHS] department was closing in on being fully staffed for the first time in awhile,” Walker said.
With these two losses, there are seven positions left unfilled in the 26-employee department, leaving it a little bit more than two-thirds staffed.
Like Walker, Kinder is hopeful for the future of the department, and said that while Brown’s administration cannot speak to anything that happened before they took office, they want to strengthen their retention efforts.
“Filling vacancies should build on the momentum of the new administration and serves as a retention strategy,” Kinder said in a written statement to RANGE. “Peer relationships, providing an inclusive environment, recognizing achievements, and promoting from within are among other strategies to retain employees.”
