government » mayor n. w. garretson
Mayor N. W. Garretson

A brief, stormy 6 months as Mayor of Cheney was that of N.W. Garretson.  There is no indication of his introduction to Cheney; one can only assume he was a citizen well-known and of great capabilities in Cheney.  We do know he was a resident here in 1886 as a news item in the Cheney Enterprise of 1890 states he was a prominent member from Cheney who attended the prohibition convention in Spokane Falls.

In January of 1890 Mr. Garretson was sworn in as Mayor of Cheney.  The February 6th issue of the Enterprise printed a lengthy letter from Mayor Garretson in which he asserted the previous administrations had been negligent in certain duties.  He listed the accomplishments he promised to carry out as the new Mayor, accusing past officials of "careless manner of previous bookkeeping" and predicted the city was on the verge of bankruptcy.

On March 6, 1890 the Enterprise reported, "Mayor Garretson is a hard worker.  He has just finished a half-dozen books of rules and presented them to the aldermen, doing the work alone on his typewriter."

The following month he was reported as "leaving no stone unturned in getting an efficient system of water works for Cheney."  The Fish Lake water was still in the early stages of becoming a reality.

All failed to go smoothly in Mayor Garretson's term.  He found money in the city treasury was being used carelessly, resulting in a gentlemanly disagreement when the common council countered some of his orders.  This was more than the Mayor could tolerate and in May, 1890 the Enterprise ran a letter from him stating he was tendering his resignation and the reason for this decision.  The open letter follows:

 "Resignation of Mayor Garretson----

Gentlemen of the Common Council of the City of Cheney,

Remembering that for my hold in your body I am indebted to your friendly consideration and suffrage and recognizing the obligations of official honor ---- so long and befittingly imposed by custom on legislative bodies where deliberate disagreement, kindly as it may be, existed between official and constituency:  and in the keeping of my promise to you at our last regular meeting, I now  put  at  your  disposal my resignation as Mayor of the City of Cheney.  Preliminary to your consideration of it, accept from me the assurance that this action on my part has not been prompted by personal pique, nor want of friendliness toward your body or any individual member thereof.  Our relations have been pleasant always, and for the marked kindness and forbearance received at your hands I am indebted to each and all of you.  While none of you are ignorant of the cause of discomfort which has called for this action at my hands; justice to you, to the city and myself demands that while performing the unpleasant duty, I shall state so clearly the cause that it may be understood by all.  It is but natural for every man to weigh motives and measure actions from his own individual stand point; hence, it would  be  unreasonable for  me  to expect that our weights and measures would be a unit every time, or to censure you for not seeing this transaction just as it appears to me.  With this assurance of kindly feeling toward you, gentlemen of the Council, I will state my grievance as well as I can.  Moved by personal interest to know, if possible, the fiscal condition of our corporation, and (should it be found deplorable as feared) by a desire to assist in putting it on a more healthy plane, I accepted your call to assume the executive control of our city government.  A cursory examination of its condition and methods of management showed me that if not already bankrupt, without an increase of its revenues, it was pretty sure to get there, unless the brakes were tightened upon its expenditures.  Understanding this to come within the scope of executive duty, I decided to look after it when opportunity offered, and when it did not offer, to look anyhow.  Finding that very soon the publication of a number of ordinances and some other printing would be necessary, I called at the office of our city clerk that I might ascertain what the city has been paying for such work.  An examination of the receipted bills and warrant stubs there found, showed me that in the past, the price charged by the Sentinal for the publication of an ordinance (one insertion) was ten cents per line, at which rate, the publication of but a single one of the six now required, would cost the city over $13, almost three times more than should be charged.  Seeing that I had struck a leak, curiosity prompted me to examine further and see how much money of our city had gone through it.  A few minutes only were necessary to show me that within but a few months past, no less than $745.45 had been paid by the city to the owner of the Sentinel for printing.  240 of these dollars for a job put upon the city for 100 pamphlets of its charter and ordinances, which were so botched as to be utterly worthless to anybody.  Indignant that the city should be victimized in such a manner and by such a sucker, I determined to stop that leak, and went to the office of the Cheney Enterprise, where I found no trouble in negotiating with its gentlemanly proprietors to do our printing for five cents per line, just half of the price charged by the Sentinel.  Meantime, the owner of the Sentinel, having learned through our city clerk that the Enterprise had proposed for the city printing, sent to you a bid of four cents per line, coupling with his demand for the patronage, his refusal to let the Enterprise have any part of it.  A shameless confession that he had hitherto charged you more than double price for the work, and that he was determined to drive out competition so that he might repeat it.  That you might be enabled to act with more of intelligence and justice on these propositions, your Mayor, then gave you a full statement of all the circumstances of the case, telling you what he had done in the premises, and requesting that the Enterprise be permitted to do the work; giving as reasons therefore, that its proposition was as low as is consistent with compensation to labor; that some of the work he wished to personally superintend (which he could not do at the Sentinel office and preserve his self-respect) and lastly, that he had assured the proprietors of the Enterprise that they should have all or part of the work.  It pleased your body, that to this time, had not invited bids for printing, nor taken any steps to protect the city against extortinate charges therefor (and here is the extraordinary and to me inexplicable part of the transaction), to take the matter out of my hands and turn the work over to one who without protest from you, had over-charged and wronged the city to the amount of many hundreds of dollars, because, when confronted by competition, he offers one cent better.  I am not disposed to question the prerogative of the Council, to both invite bids and contract for its printing, but it appears to me that having neglected for months and years together to do this, and to the heavy loss of the city, when your executive, in the line of his duty, having taken charge of the matter and provided advantageously for it, for the Council then to interfere, set aside his work, and return the city patronage to the hands that have plundered it, is to smirch the dignity of the city and stultify its executive, leaving him to choose between humiliation and resignation.  Preferring the latter, I respectfully tender you my resignation, to take effect on the evening of May 26, 1890, by which time I hope to be able to lay before you a statement of the condition of our corporation in redemption of my promise made in my first communication to you.  I have the honor, gentlemen, to be and subscribe myself very truly and respectfully yours,  N.W. Garretson, Mayor of the City of Cheney."

Although a thorough search of all available material failed to reveal when Mayor Garretson left town, a Cheney newspaper dated two years later reported N.W. Garretson had been in Cheney one day that week.  He had come down from "the Falls" to visit friends in this city.

Contributed by Ellen Proctor, 1988.