SPOKANE – The Spokane Regional Health District’s Board of Health made it official last week that Dr. Bob Lutz is no longer the district’s Health Officer.
In an 8-4 decision at a Nov. 6 meeting, board members voted to uphold the termination of Lutz by the district’s administration Amelia Clark. According to media reports, Clark accused Lutz of insubordination, unauthorized spending of district funds and behaving in a sexist manner towards Health District female employees.
Examples of insubordination were Lutz’s writing of opinion columns published in the Spokesman-Review and marching in a Black Lives Matter rally where attendance exceeded the state’s Covid-19 limits on public gatherings. Lutz’s alleged unauthorized use of district funds included purchasing pizzas for district employees and a internet hot spot at his cabin so he could work remotely – a contention Lutz said he eventually received district authorization.
Lutz denied the charges made by Clark, and through his attorney said his dismissal is politically motivated. Accentuating this contention, Wilcox has pointed to a recent revelation of a letter written by Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward to the Board of Health prior to its decision last Thursday describing Lutz’s removal as “the best news I’ve heard in a long time” as evidence of behind the scenes political pressure to remove him.
Woodward denied this in a Nov. 9 Spokesman-Review story, outlining several areas where she and Lutz clashed over specific responses to the Covid-19 pandemic and a perceived lack of communication. Woodward was also one of a number of Spokane County political and business leaders to ask Lutz to promote moving the county to Phase 3 of the state’s Covid-19 reopening plan last June – a move Lutz refused to endorse, citing specific infection-related rates at the time.
Lutz’s termination was first revealed after a Board of Health executive session following an Oct. 30 meeting and after Clark and Board chair Spokane Valley Mayor Ben Wick approached the Health Officer and asked him to either resign with a three-month severance package or be terminated. Lutz refused and retained the services of Wilcox.
Since then, Lutz has received wide support from throughout the community from unions, local university presidents and school district superintendents. A protest of the decision on Sunday, Nov. 1, drew a crowd to the Health District building and an online petition calling for the firing of Clark reached over 7,000 signatures.
Organizations such as the Washington State University College of Health Sciences, Washington State Medical Association and the Spokane County Medical Society have all questioned the timing and process surrounding Lutz’s termination.
“A vacancy or change in the Health Officer position during this pandemic is irresponsible, especially after Dr. Lutz’s strong leadership has kept our community safe,” Spokane County Medical Society members wrote in a letter opposing his removal.
Upon hearing of the board’s vote, the union representing more than 120 SRHD issued a statement of no-confidence in Clark, and urged the board to fire her and rehire Lutz.
“It’s not just about Dr. Lutz at this point,” health district epidemiologist and union member Erin Whitehead told Spokane Public Radio. “We have been unhappy, for a lot of people, since day one with this director and the way that she leads.”
On Monday, the Washington State Board of Health voted unanimously to open a preliminary investigation into several complaints made against Clark. One alleges Clark broke the law by firing Lutz on Oct. 30, noting only the Board of Health can take such action, which it did upon Clark’s recommendation at the Nov. 6 meeting.
The complaint notes this was a full week after Clark took Lutz’s keys and identification badge, essentially preventing him from working at the district.
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