Tacoma: Council confirms utility chief, sky doesn’t fall

Re: “City Council confirms 2 new high-profile directors,” (TNT, 6/14).

In voting to confirm new Utility Director Jackie Flowers and Community Development Director Jeff Robinson, the council complied with City Charter sections 3.4 and 4.18 for the first time.

This confirmation authority was vested to the directly elected officials when Tacoma voters passed charter amendments in 2014, despite pleas of gloom and doom by naysayers and opponents.

Two former utility directors, for example, signed an opinion piece appearing in the TNT predicting that passing Proposition 6, allowing for City Council confirmation of the utility director, would “make it extremely difficult to recruit and retain a highly qualified utility executive…”

The fallacy of this argument was shown by the quality of the three finalists for appointment. Flowers is considered by her peers as one of the top utility executives in the country. Her recruitment and appointment went smoothly and without incident.

Her relationship with board members, the mayor and council starts out with very positive and supportive feelings by all of the city policy makers — a first in city history.

Granting the council authority to confirm appointment of department directors will not mark the end of council-manager government, as it was argued.

The voters made the right choice in 2014.