government » gerald a. blakely
Gerald A. Blakely

One of the most recent Mayors and a loyal supporter of the Cheney community has been a resident here the past 21 years. Gerald A. Blakely was born November 7, 1930 in Oxford, Ohio to Arthur and Juanita Jones Blakely. He grew up in Ohio, attended Hanover High School and Ohio State University, earning a degree in Veterinary Medicine. He came to this state soon after graduating from the University as a veterinarian at WSU.

Since his move to Cheney in 1968 he has given a generous amount of his time to all community work. In 1972 he was elected Mayor and was responsible for some innovative changes in City government. His first act was to reorganize the Police Department including the requirement all police officers within the department have a minimum of an A.A. Degree. He proved to the City Council the wisdom of sending all officers to the Spokane Police Academy, the Chief to the FBI Academy and hired the first female police officer,--- a move, we might add, that has worked out to the advantage of the force and met with approval of the majority of the townspeople.

Perhaps his most notable achievement during his six years as Mayor was leading a move to change Cheney from a third class to a code class city. In explanation: a third class city means one whose rights are given by the Legislature; a code class city has rights which are not prohibited by the legislative body. The next step in codes is the charter code, effecting any purposed change in the charter of cities the size of Spokane or Seattle. The charter code assures the populace the right to vote on any change in such city's charter.

The same plaguing problem of sufficient water for the city's expansion needed addressing. It was solved by drilling well #5 near the southwest edge of Salnave Park. The well was cored to 2000 feet with the actual pumping level at 1400 feet which in conjunction with the other producing wells has to the present time furnished plenty of water to all sections of the City with no rationing since that time.

Other accomplishments credited to Mayor Blakely was his aggressive pursuit for federal grants to improve the downtown area, install underground utilities, new sidewalks and beautify the main section of downtown Cheney by having trees planted along the walks.

An almost unbelievable incident worth mentioning here happened when a backhoe was preparing the ditch for new pipe. A piece of wooden water pipe from the 1890 era was unearthed. It was fairly intact, with water still going through. Another piece had rotted but water had found its way along the depression where the old pipe had lain for nearly 85 years. These sections of pipe appeared to have been made of small hollowed out logs. They had been used originally to carry the water supply from Fish Lake to Cheney.

County and State groups took advantage of his skill and energy by naming him to positions of trust in their organizations. He was a valued member of the Association of Washington Cities, was Board Secretary, 2nd Vice-President, 1st Vice-President then President of the group at times during his membership in that organization. He was appointed to the State Jail Commission whose duties were to investigate jails in both county and cities for adequate floor plans and conditions and make recommendations for adoption of necessary changes to the State Legislature.

Mayor Blakely spent a challenging seven years on the Spokane County Health District Board as representative of Cheney and other small cities. He was at one time President of this Board. This Centennial year of 1989 finds him completing his second term as a member of the Washington State Boundary Review Board for Spokane County.

Gerald Blakely has been Supervisory Veterinarian at the Primate Center situated in the Eastern State Hospital complex at Medical Lake since his coming here in 1968.

1951 was the year he and Patricia Byrd were joined in marriage. They had three sons, Jeffrey, David and Mark.

Gerald is a dedicated member of the Cheney Emmanuel Lutheran Church and a willing participant in many community activities. He served on the Cheney Care Center Board of Directors for over four years and was President of that Board until September, 1989. Leadership of this group of seven volunteers demands compatibility, an earnest desire to best represent community ownership and ability to work with the Administrator. Gerald Blakely possessed all these qualities.

Contributed by Ellen Proctor, 1988.