Council upset over hiring process for consultant

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Before Minnesota consultant Peter Hutchinson can fix Snohomish County's $169 million budget, two branches of county government must agree on his $200,000 contract.

That's proved difficult so far.

In a scene that has played out several times since Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon took office in January, Reardon and County Council Republicans are trading barbs over the way Reardon handled the contract.

They say he should have told them about it sooner — certainly before paying Hutchinson's company $50,000 and preparing to sign a second, $50,000 contract with him. A third, $100,000 contract also is pending.

"(Reardon) talks about transparency and keeping us in the loop, and then we get this big surprise," said council Chairman John Koster, R-Arlington. "I had no idea he had a contract with Peter Hutchinson. ... No councilman up here saw it."

Reardon shot back: "I question their sincerity, and I question their dedication to change the way we do business in Snohomish County."

Council members said they expect to approve the contracts today. That leaves Hutchinson with the question of whether so-called priority-based budgeting can work in this contentious environment.

Hutchinson preaches a gospel of all or nothing. Under his plan to fill a budget gap, county government will pay for programs that yield specific results and chop the rest from the budget. The public is to help choose the programs by identifying its priorities in public meetings already under way.

Council members have said they support Reardon's plan to redo the county's budget process. Only Kirke Sievers, a Democrat, has misgivings, but he says he's willing to try it. Reardon projects a $32 million budget shortfall in the county in the next two years, a proclamation Republicans compared to Chicken Little's warning that the sky was falling.

Reardon has said the council spent too much in reserves and other one-time funds last year and can't sustain its budget. Council members want to make changes so they won't have to maintain the same level of funding.

It's a worst-case scenario, they say.

Last year, council Republicans were critical of then-Executive Bob Drewel, who kept the budget process secret until October, when he gave his formal budget address. This time, the council will have access to everything, county Finance Director Roger Neumaier said.

"We're giving more information, by far, than we've ever given," said Neumaier, who was Drewel's budget director.

Councilman Dave Gossett, D-Mountlake Terrace, called the contract flap "a tempest in a teapot." Reardon had considered approving the second $50,000 contract, which would have violated a limit on what the executive can spend without council approval, but when the council objected, he didn't.

To complain about that, Gossett said, is like making a big deal about a motorist who considers speeding on the freeway but thinks better of it.

Just to make sure it doesn't happen again, Councilman Jeff Sax, R-Snohomish, said he will seek to add a council staff member to Reardon's priority-based-budgeting work group to "force the issue for us all to play nice together."

Reardon said he'll go forward with priority-based budgeting regardless of whether the council plays nice.

"It'll just be much more time-consuming and much more difficult for the internal staff," he said.

Hutchinson worked for 14 years at what is now Target, 10 of them as a corporate vice president. He was Minnesota's commissioner of finance and the deputy mayor of Minneapolis before starting a consulting business in 1990 that he said aims to make "dramatic improvements" in public agencies. His company, Public Strategies Group, took over Minneapolis Public Schools in 1993, and he served as superintendent.

In Washington, Hutchinson has done work for the Washington State Association of Counties and the Issaquah School District. He currently has contracts with the state Department of Social and Health Services and the state Arts Commission.

His company helped Gov. Gary Locke close a budget shortfall last year. He co-wrote a book about that experience titled "The Price of Government: Getting the Results We Need in an Age of Permanent Fiscal Crisis."

Having the legislative branch cooperate is "always a plus," Hutchinson said. "It can work both ways."

He had hoped there wouldn't be disagreements, but he said, "I wouldn't be surprised if there were more to come."

Emily Heffter: 425-783-0624 or eheffter@seattletimes.com