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.
Some things that stick out to us this week include:
- The Spokane City Council is foregoing regular legislative business to hold a Town Hall style meeting, where they’ll hear from residents of District 1.
- The Spokane County Sheriff wants county commissioners to approve half a million dollars in spending on new and replacement patrol cars.
- After a new state law barred governments from privileging clean energy over “natural” or fossil gas, Spokane County may offer energy rebates to people who use the potent greenhouse gas to heat their homes as people who use carbon neutral energy
- The Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee is discussing the renewal of the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Protection Area, a special fee district that provides funding to preserve drinking water in Eastern Washington. The City of Spokane may rejoin the district after bowing out in 2004.
- Spokane Transit Authority is holding a special meeting to discuss the sequencing of projects approved in their big Connect 2035 plan.
Important meetings this week:
- Spokane City Council — District 1 townhall
- Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
- Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees
- Bicycle Advisory Board
- Spokane Ombuds Commission
- Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors
- Housing Action Subcommittee
- Board of County Commissioners - Briefing Session and Legislative Session
- Spokane Valley City Council
- Liberty Lake City Council
- Thrive Ukraine Solidarity Rally
Thrive International solidarity rally for Ukraine
The Spokane-based advocacy nonprofit Thrive International is throwing a solidarity rally for Ukrainians who fled the Russian invasion of their home country. Thrive wants you to bring “uplifting signs of encouragement, love and hope,” listen to the speakers, check out tables that will be hosted by partnering organizations and, most important, show your support for Ukrainians living in Spokane.
Wednesday, March 19 at 5:30 pm
Thrive Parking Lot
110 East 4th Avenue, Spokane, WA 99202
Spokane City Council
🌶️/5 peppers
There’s no legislative business on the docket for today, but if you live in District 1 (you can put your address in here to check), then tonight’s the night to tell your representatives about the issues in your neighborhood during their District 1 Town Hall!
The meeting still starts at 6 pm, but it’s up in your part of town, at Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook St., Lower-Level Main Room. The council wants to hear comments and questions around public safety, safe streets/traffic calming and other topics.
You can sign up to provide testimony here, with priority going to people who live in the district.
Next week’s sneak peek:
- A public hearing on the ordinance that would eliminate height restrictions for downtown buildings.
- We’ve put it in CIVICS a few times, but it keeps getting deferred. Next week, the midbiennial budget review ordinance is scheduled for a vote, this time with another amendment from Council Member Michael Cathcart that lays out a very detailed process for budget deliberations.
Two resolutions about items moving through the legislative session, one from Cathcart against the House Bill 1339 and one from Council Member Jonathan Bingle opposing House Bill 1380. Both resolutions will likely get deferred, since both bills died last week. HB 1339 would’ve allowed local jurisdictions to run even-year elections and HB 1380 would have allowed some public camping.
Agenda here
Monday, March 17, at 6 pm
808 W. Spokane Falls Boulevard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Fire safety presentation
After the Palisades fire in California spun out of control, killing 12 people and burning more than 23,000 acres, Spokane is taking it as a sign to review their own risks of wildland fire. Today, the PIES committee will be getting a presentation on what the city is doing to improve our system for wildland fire management, and reviewing practice that can reduce the chance that any fires reach the magnitude of the Palisades fire.
Aquifer protection opportunity?
Spokane County will soon be asking voters to agree to renew a per-parcel fee on their property tax bill that goes towards aquifer protection activities. The City participated in this Aquifer Protection Area (APA) from 1984 to 2004, but bowed out of the last cycle from 20004 to 2024 — the fee is approved in 20 year chunks. At PIES, the city will discuss potentially rejoining the APA for the next 20 year cycle, which would require the approval of the voters.
Liberty Lake and Spokane Valley, two other cities within the county boundaries are part of the APA, but the text in the agenda doesn’t make it clear if that means residents pay a second fee — one to the county and one to their city — or if it just means they’re included in paying the single county fee and reap the benefits. Nothing in the agenda says how much the “small annual fee,” would entail, either.
Agenda here
Monday, March 17 at 12 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.
Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
The Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees always keep their agendas incredibly brief so it’s hard for us to tell what exactly they’ll be discussing. We noticed three interesting items in the new business section:
- A vote on an update to “Meeting room and facilities use fee schedule.”
- A vote on a “revised effective date for update to library hours.”
- A vote on “EPA Community Change Grant.”
Agenda here
Tuesday, March 19 at 4:30 pm
Indian Trail Library
4909 W Barnes Rd, Spokane, WA, Events Room
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Bicycle Advisory Board
🌶️/5 peppers
2024 in review
Want to know what the Bicycle Advisory Board got up to this year? Tomorrow’s meeting is the perfect one to tune into; they’ll be presenting their 2024 Year-End Report. And it’s not just a look-back! Our power skim of the presentation revealed that they’ll also be giving a preview of some projects and initiatives slated for 2025. Go to the meeting to hear for yourself, or read up, starting on page 23 of the agenda.
Agenda here
Tuesday, March 18 at 6 pm
City Council Briefing Center
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Ombuds Commission
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here when available
Tuesday, March 19 at 5:30 pm
City Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Special Workshop: Connect 2035
The Spokane Transit Authority (STA) will hold a special workshop from 11:45 am to 1:15 pm before their regular meeting on Thursday to discuss the Connect 2035 plan. We covered the plan and what it entails here.
This meeting will dive into the sequencing of projects: a bunch of things were approved, but not the order they would be accomplished in. The STA board won’t be taking any action in this meeting, but they will be spending a whole lot of time discussing a potential ordering of all the projects. You can attend in person or virtually here (the password is “Guest.”)
Regular meeting
During the regular meeting, there are a couple scheduled informational items we noticed that looked interesting. The first is an update on the Division Street Bus Rapid Transit project, with information on the potential design and public outreach. The second item is the unaudited financial report for 2024, so if you’re curious about the health and finances of our region’s transit authority, this might be the meeting for you!
Agenda here
Thursday, March 20 at 1:30 pm
STA Boardroom
1230 W Boone Avenue, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Housing Action Subcommittee
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here when available
Thursday, March 20 at 9:30 a.m.
Tribal Conference Room – City Hall Lobby
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
Watch via Zoom here.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session
🌶️/5 peppers
Sheriff asks for half a million dollars for patrol cars
The Spokane County Sheriff has been on a hiring spree, bringing on dozens of new deputies and officers in the last year and planning to hire more. That means they need more patrol vehicles to keep their people on the road. So the sheriff is asking the county to spend $474,103 on seven Ford patrol cars. This week’s request is part of a longer-term, $1.7 million effort to replace old patrol cars and expand the patrol fleet.
Hearing set for $28M contract with Waste Management
The county has set a public hearing for Spokane County residents to discuss a contract it negotiated with Waste Management for waste disposal at the Adams County Regional Landfill (ACRL) near Hooper. According to the agenda sheet, the ACRL is the closest regional landfill to Spokane. The contract would cost the county $28 million over a decade.
Agenda here
Tuesday, March 18 at 9 am
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Legislative Session
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Energy credits for fossil gas, too
Since 2021, governments in Washington have given heating bill credits back to people who use carbon neutral technology, like heat pumps, to heat their homes. Last year, voters approved a law that makes it illegal for the state to do so without also giving credits to people who use “natural” or fossil gas to heat their homes.
The state of Washington’s Building Code Council has not established guidelines for local governments to follow this law, so Spokane County is trying to put itself ahead of the curve. It is considering a resolution that would create rebate credits for people who use combustion systems and gas furnaces to heat their homes. The credits would be equal to those provided to people who heat their homes with carbon neutral technology.
Fossil gas is a climate-warming gas often considered to be cleaner than coal or oil. But creating fossil gas also emits disproportionate amounts of methane into the atmosphere, which has stronger heat-trapping qualities than any other fossil fuel.
Board appointment
The BOCC is set to appoint Diana Wilhite to the Spokane County Water Conservancy Board.
Agenda here
Tuesday, March 18 at 2 pm
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Valley City Council
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Sales tax for more cops
Ballooning law enforcement budgets in Spokane Valley are so costly that the city is having to cut other programs in order to fund them. Spending on public safety in the city has increased 5.2%, according to a presentation the City Council will hear Tuesday. This does not account for increased spending dictated by the County Sheriff’s collective bargaining agreement with deputies and officers, which also covers the Spokane Valley Police Department. And the city wants to hire the following positions, in addition to 10 officers hired in the last year:
- Four Patrol Deputies
- One School Resource Officer
- One shared Sexual Assault Detective
- One Behavioral Health Deputy (who would work with a behavioral health specialist)
So city officials are asking the council to put a public safety sales tax of .1%, which they say will bring in $2.6 million a year, on the ballot for the primary election scheduled for August 5. They want to schedule an initial public hearing for April 1.
City spending hundred of thousands on Merkel probes
The drama continues in Spokane Valley, as the city is claiming it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on:
- “Actions to protect city employees” from an alleged hostile work environment
- “Actions to protect the city from legal risk” regarding alleged violations of the city’s social media policy
- “Non-productive uses of staff time” in responding to records requests, and
- An investigation into an “unfounded complaint” Merkel filed against Council Member Rod Higgins and Mayor Pam Haley
The person at the center of this, freshman Council Member Al Merkel, has consistently denied any wrongdoing, locking horns with city staff members and the rest of the council. City Manager John Hohman will detail the spending and how they’re planning to pay for it at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Agenda here when available
Tuesday, March 11 at 6 pm
City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.
Liberty Lake City Council
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Appointments
Mayor Cris Kaminskas has made nominations for two important city positions, asking the City Council to appoint:
- Rochelle Caton to the position of City Clerk
- Barb Richardson to position 2 of the Library Board of Trustees
The library trustees have been a point of contention in Liberty Lake recently, as the body has fought to preserve its policy making authority, after a high-profile controversy over an attempt by a citizen to have a queer book banned from library shelves. Catch up on RANGE’s coverage of that saga here.
Agenda here
Tuesday, March 18 at 7 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake, WA 99019
The meeting is also live streamed here.
