While city council is away, the people will play

While the city council is away, the mice will play. We promise we're not calling anyone mice, they're just so darn cute. (Photo illustration by Valerie Osier)

Welcome to CIVICS, where we break down the week’s municipal meetings throughout the Inland Northwest, so you can get involved and speak out about the issues you care about.

It’s a light week with many boards taking time off for the holidays, but some things that stick out to us this week include:

The RANGE team (and probably you too) crawling toward a winter break.
PSL holding a People’s City Council while Spokane’s is on break.
Possible zoning changes in Liberty Lake.

Important meetings this week:

Holiday Closures (including RANGE!)

Winter holidays have snuck up on us, which means holiday closures! The county courthouse is closed on Monday, December 25 and Monday, January 1 in observance of Christmas and New Year. These closures also include public access to the Spokane County Regional Solid Waste System’s three transfer stations and the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service (SCRAPS) building.

RANGE is also taking a break for the holidays! We’ll be completely off from December 25 through December 29, meaning no CIVICS (most public meetings will be canceled anyway), no editorial publishing, no Documenters and no answering emails or DMs on social media. We’ll be back with CIVICS on January 1, but the rest of that week will also be a light editorial week for us as we are planning to do a team retreat and strategic planning so we can bring you the best of RANGE in 2024.

The People’s City Council

Though the Spokane City Council is on break, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) plans to hold their own version of a people’s city council, which will look a lot more like a community discussion and gathering. The event will be held on Tuesday at the Central Library’s Event Room A and runs from 4:30 pm until 7 pm. PSL, in tandem with the Inland Northwest Coalition for the Liberation of Palestine and other local organizations, will facilitate discussions on some of the important issues faced by communities locally and globally. Local organizations will be tabling throughout. PSL wrote, “The People’s Council will be a powerful space of community dialogue and learning,” and they hope to see folks join them for a community discussion.

Tuesday, December 19 from 4:30 to 7 pm
Central Library, Event Room A
906 W Main Ave, Spokane, WA 99201

Spokane Valley City Council

Special Meeting

Spokane Valley City Council is holding a special meeting today at 2:30 pm where they will discuss their state legislative agenda for 2024. That agenda includes funding requests for a cross country sports complex and the Sullivan/Trent interchange, a support request for a performing arts center and council members’ policy statements on things like public safety and growth management.

Agenda here
Monday, December 18 at 2:30 pm
10210 E Sprague Ave
Second Floor Conference Room
Virtual attendance here.

Governance changes coming

Spokane Valley City Council has the authority to establish the rules and standards of conduct that govern their body, which they periodically review and update. At Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting, they are planning to take a vote on proposed amendments. The big changes on the table include moving meetings for 2024 out of CenterPlace Great Room and back into City Hall, as the construction there is wrapping up, implementing a social media policy for council members with the intent or preventing “unintentional violations of the Open Meeting Act and Public Records Act,” and revisions to their standards of ethics. They also set a three minute time limit on council member reports which happen at the top of the meeting, and, as we are well aware, have dragged on in the past.

The edits to the ethics policy start on page 51 of the agenda and include a new clause prohibiting council members from using their position to secure any special privileges for themself or others, a clarifying update to conflict of interest language and a new definition for what constitutes confidential information. The social media policy begins on page 62 of the agenda and grants council members the ability to make official social media accounts to communicate with their constituents, which isn’t allowed under the current code. It differentiates the usage of city, personal and campaign accounts, outlines what social media conduct could potentially constitute an Open Meetings Act violation and states that the account will be closed and archived by the city at the end of a council member’s term.

Agenda here
Tuesday, December 19 at 6 pm
CenterPlace Great Room
2426 N Discovery Place, Spokane Valley, WA 99216
Virtual attendance here.

Liberty Lake City Council

River district discussions continue

Though RANGE was in attendance at the last Liberty Lake City Council meeting for coverage on their ordinance to establish more control over the city’s Library Board, we heard a slew of public comments from individuals concerned about the upcoming ordinance 301, which would amend the city’s development code and code in the River District area plan. Residents who spoke were worried about a specific neighborhood that they feared would see an uptick in agricultural noise, smells and construction that would impede their quiet enjoyment of what is primarily a residential neighborhood at the moment.

In the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting, there is a hearing on proposed amendments to the River District landscape regulations, and a first reading of ordinance 301. According to staff analysis provided in the agenda packet, the main changes to the city code would expressly allow agricultural product and craft sales stands, like a farmer’s market, as well as community gardens, farm stands and market gardens. The staff analysis, which begins on page 15 of the agenda, also stated that the proposed amendment seemed to be in conflict with some of the design and housing goals listed for the area in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. However, evaluations from the Planning Commission found that the proposed amendment was not in conflict with the Comprehensive Plan and recommended that the amendments move forward with slight changes that would disallow farm stands and market gardens in the zone.

The amendment has been through a litany of city processes, including the Planning Commission evaluation, the hearing examiner’s public hearing and deliberations at city council meetings. It is unlikely a decision will be made tomorrow and we expect to see more public comment and debate of these zoning changes, but it’s worth it to note that in Liberty Lake, the city council can move to hold a second reading at the same meeting a first reading is held at.

Agenda here
Tuesday, December 19 at 7 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake, WA 99019
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees

Agenda here when posted
Tuesday, December 19 at 4:30 pm
South Hill Library
3324 S Perry St, Spokane, Washington, 99205
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane School District Board of Directors

Special meeting

At 4:30 pm, prior to the regularly scheduled meeting, the Spokane School District Board of Directors will hold a special meeting. The only two things on the agenda are an executive session to discuss the performance of a public employee, and a work session on the communication plan for the district’s bond and levy, which will appear on the ballot for the February special election.

Agenda here
Wednesday, December 20 at 6 pm
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors

New year, new budget

The STA board will be voting on a final proposed $216.8 million budget for 2024. Other than general operating expenses, this budget includes bigger capital projects, like station and stop improvements and an expansion to the Sprague line, some of the design for the Division Street Bus Rapid transit and major improvements to the I-90/Valley Corridor route.

If our transit pals want to nerd out on the plans STA has for the next year, the budget starts on page 30 in the agenda packet.