Spokane County grapples with a state of emergency

Carl is in the arms of the angels. (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 been a rough week with fires and Spokane County’s State of Emergency, but some of the items that stick out to us this week include:

CHHS is still asking for $3.5 million more for Salvation Army, but maybe keeping the original contract timeline intact?
Spokane Gun Club’s struggle to find a new home continues
City Council audio/visual accessibility upgrades could be coming
We say goodbye to Carl :( :(

This week, these groups will be meeting:

State of Emergency declared due to wildfires, here’s how to help

In an emergency meeting on Saturday, the Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution to declare a state of emergency in Spokane County due to the Gray Fire and Oregon Road Fire. Declaring a state of emergency helps county departments respond more quickly by allowing them to bypass normal processes for making expenditures and entering contracts.

Find updated information about wildfires affecting your area on the Spokane County Emergency Management website.

If you’re looking to help, the Red Cross is calling for monetary donations to fund immediate disaster relief and Innovia Foundation is taking monetary donations to support both emergency and long-term relief efforts. Local businesses have also been putting out social media calls for monetary or supply donations to empower them to distribute resources to those affected by fires, including Fofolles Boutique in Spokane which is giving out free clothes and Wiley’s Downtown Bistro, which is distributing food and water to first responders and folks at the emergency shelters. The Spokane Public Library has also put out a list of resources and places to direct donations.

As the smoke rolls in, Carl rolls out

In news that makes us all very sad, Carl is moving on from RANGE (don’t worry about today’s graphic, he’s alive and well, we promise). Carl started his journey with RANGE last summer, coming right out the gate with impactful coverage of Camp Hope during a heat wave and not just following the evolution of our region’s response, but spearheading a people-centered style of coverage that we honestly believe made a positive impact on the way Camp Hope and the larger housing crisis were covered. The way Carl humanized our unhoused neighbors is a testament to who he is as a journalist and what RANGE aspires to be as a newsroom.

That coverage, though, also built so much trust that it led RANGE to earn exclusive stories on topics ranging from theft at the Guardians to illegal and unhealthy conditions at the Trent Shelter. He also tackled issues like our town’s lax ineffective campaign finance laws among other impactful pieces.

But now he’s stepping into a new season with his family and looking forward to a new gig that’s much less intense. We will let him say more on that when he’s ready.

We’re going to miss him immensely and are thankful for the work he did helping RANGE get off the ground.

Tacos y Tequila Festival

Spokane’s “Official Latino Festival” is back this weekend (air quality permitting)! Grab a taco from one of many food vendors at the event and enjoy cultural performances from a variety of musicians and dancers representing musical traditions from across Latin America.

Event website here
Wednesday, Aug. 26 and Thursday, Aug. 27 from 1-10 pm
Corner of Lincoln and Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA

Carl Maxey Center gets a new Executive Director

Today is Dr. Shari Clarke’s first day in her new role as Executive Director of the Carl Maxey Center. Clarke is coming off six years as the Vice President for Diversity & Senior Diversity Officer for Eastern Washington University, and was chosen after an extensive hiring search. She plans to celebrate the legacy of the late Sandy Williams in her leadership, she said in a statement.

Spokane City Council

Salvation Army contract gets reupped

An original agenda item presented on July 31 (and deferred) proposed ending Salvation Army’s contract with the Trent Resource and Assistance Center early, but the newest iteration in this week’s agenda strikes the previous line about cutting the contract early, and instead requests an additional $3.5 million in funding for the Salvation Army. With the amendment, the contract will total $9,140,586. The money is set to come from ARPA, REET and Washington Dept of Commerce dollars, but the bigger question for us is why the switcheroo on Salvation Army? The RFP for a new shelter operator is still in process, so it’s likely that this additional funding will serve as a bridge between Salvation Army’s current contract and whoever takes over. The RFP is set to be awarded in December with the winning agency taking over in early 2024.

Crosswalk 2.0 is closer

The consent agenda shows more funding coming to Crosswalk Teen Shelter and Transitional Housing. Crosswalk will get $1 million to fund development fees and construction activities. This agenda item seems to be tied to Crosswalk’s project timeline of building a new shelter near Spokane Community College with goals of getting teens away from “predatory risk factors” in the downtown core and into career readiness and running start programs at SCC.

More accessible City Council meetings

For anyone who tunes into City Council meetings remotely, there’s some good news in this week’s agenda: Council is voting to use $250,000 of ARPA funding to update audio/visual technologies in the Briefing and Council Chambers to enhance accessibility. Now that Succession is over (RIP), this could be a good substitute for HBO prestige television?

Agenda here
Monday, Aug 21 at 6 pm
Council Chambers in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Finance and Administration Committee

Pinch your pennies, parking payments may be increasing

Parking in Spokane has been a hot topic lately among RANGE-heads and on the Spokane Reddit, and we have even more parking news this week. Citing “severe losses” from the COVID pandemic, Parking Services is proposing a rate hike of $.50/hour, for all time limits (2 Hr, 4hr, All Day). We’ve previously covered parking in CIVICS, as the council voted to get rid of parking minimums for new housing developments earlier this year.

Agenda here
Monday, Aug 21 at 1:15 pm
Council Briefing Center in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Board of Spokane County Commissioners

Special Session to replace canceled Legislative session

The regularly scheduled Legislative Session is canceled, but Commissioners will meet at 11 am instead to approve the cancellation, discuss state of emergency policies and look at a few budget items, including over $128,000 for the Sheriff’s Department to get new scopes for guns (and potentially microscopes?) and a $77,500 contract between Spokane County Community Services Dept., Spokane County Regional Behavioral Health and National Alliance on Mental Illness to provide behavioral health and community services navigator program services to Spokane County residents.

Spokane Gun Club has big plans…if they can find a place to carry them out

The Spokane Gun Club is requesting changes to Spokane County zoning code to allow for retail, food services and RV camping at gun and archery ranges. Based on this, the new shooting range the gun club is cooking up would be quite an enterprise — but they'll have to find a location and neighbors who like them first.

The gun club has been searching for a new home for several years since selling its previous property in 2018. The club purchased a parcel of land west of Spokane in 2019, but the Medical Lake Cemetery, located directly across the street, blocked the club’s land use permit for the site in court last year. The Spokane Gun Club has continued its legal battle for the permit, while looking into other potential properties as well.

Notice of Special Meeting here
Agenda here
Tuesday, August 22 at 11 am.
Commissioners’ Hearing Room, Public Works Building lower level.
1026 W Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99201
View livestream here.

Spokane Valley City Council

City could invoke eminent domain for road project

Spokane Valley City Council plans to vote on an ordinance that would authorize the city to take properties through eminent domain for a grade separation of Pines Road from the BNSF railroad tracks. The agenda says the grade separation is needed to support “freight mobility and improve safety.” The road project is “a means of supporting freight mobility and improving safety” and is part of the Spokane Regional Transportation Council’s larger Horizon 2045 transportation plan.

Four pieces of land the ordinance is most likely to affect are properties owned by businesses near the intersection of Trent and Pines. If the ordinance passes, the city will still try to negotiate with the property owners, but if an agreement cannot be reached the city will forcibly buy the properties using eminent domain. City council is plowing full steam ahead on this ordinance, expecting to vote at Tuesday’s meeting and skip the usual amendments and second reading.

Agenda here
Tuesday, August 22 at 6 pm.
CenterPlace Great Room
2426 N Discovery Place, Spokane Valley, WA 99216
Virtual attendance here.

Liberty Lake City Council

Agenda here
Tuesday, August 21 at 6 pm.
22710 E Country Vista Dr., Liberty Lake
Virtual attendance here

Spokane Public School Board of Directors

Special Meeting Agenda here once posted
Wednesday, Aug 23 at 4:30 pm
Virtual attendance here.
Regular Meeting Agenda here once posted
Wednesday, Aug 23 at 6 pm
Virtual attendance here.

Plan Commission

Agenda here
Wednesday, August 23 at 2 pm.
Council Briefing Center, City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
Virtual attendance here.