Spokane City Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson released the following statement regarding the vote to dismiss Spokane Regional Health District Health Officer (SRHD), Dr. Bob Lutz. She joined fellow board members Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs, Spokane City Councilwoman Karen Stratton and Dr. Jason Kinley in voting against the motion.

“Many of the residents that I represent as Council Member of District 2 are in the “high risk” category.  It is also home to five of our region’s hospitals and the essential workers who have kept those institutions going through the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past week, I have received numerous emails and phone calls from them asking me to not terminate Dr. Lutz as Spokane County’s Health Officer.

Personally, I have worked with Dr. Lutz and found him to be an ally that has helped me address issues like health disparities in communities of color.  To be transparent, it is no secret that Spokane is a highly conservative county including parts of our City with an extremely small minority voice, and to have an ally such as Dr. Lutz, I feel it is my responsibility and loyalty to voice my support of Dr. Lutz in the face of an unjust and grossly inappropriate public termination.

The lack of transparency and communication whether it be the amount of timely information or the communication between the board appointed Health Administrator and the Board over personnel concerns is unacceptable.  The unprofessional behavior on display during the Board of Directors meeting on November 5th was troubling as someone who runs a business and has chaired numerous boards, I have never seen such lack of respect for process, opposing view-points or for differences of opinion.

To be specific, these are points of contention that puzzled me:

  • When asked for, a strong pattern of behavior meriting dismissal was not presented.
  • "Concern” over Dr. Lutz’s
    • collaboration with elected officials addressing mental health issues relating to gun violence.
    • refusal to move us to Phase III.   
    • attendance at a Black Lives Matter protest.
    • penning op-eds.
  • No adequate documentation or body of evidence for accusations against Dr. Lutz.
  • Timing of the request for resignation, literally a day after Dr. Lutz and SRHD receive the Sister Peter Claver Humanitarian Award.
  • Moving target of what the board was supposed to do concerning remedies
  • A packet of documents was given to the board with literally hours to decide.
  • Although a performance improvement plan was drawn up, it was deemed costly and was not even offered to Dr. Lutz.

SRHD listed many reasons that ranged from political motivation to uncertainty that would occur in the absence of Dr. Lutz’s measured and experienced leadership. I understand that organizations have internal protocols, process and chains of command, and that is not the question, yet I question the timing of events and the lines of official work performance versus personal disagreement appeared to be blurred. 

I was out of town when the Board of Health meeting on the 29th of October was held and the phone calls that I received after the subsequent press conference were troubling. People were telling me that they felt lost and blindsided, as a Board of Health member I was not told anything in advance. I was not briefed about the ongoing “personnel” situation in the ten months that I have been on it.  Again, I am puzzled and feel it was deliberate to keep board members in the dark, and I hope to that was not the intent.

Going forward I join the public in requiring the Administrator, the Health Officer, and the Executive Leadership to be open and transparent. I commit to join the effort in rebuilding the relationship with the public and their Regional Health District.”