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:
- No Spokane City Council or committee meetings this week!
- Daniel Walters’ bike got stolen in November. Now, we might be getting an update on bike theft in our region. Those two things are not necessarily related.
- The Spokane School District board will have a special meeting on what to do about aging school facilities after a school bond failed.
- An update on the greenway planned for Pacific Avenue in Downtown.
- A battle over breaching regional dams.
Important meetings this week:
- Board of County Commissioners - Briefing Session and Regular Session
- Spokane Valley City Council
- Liberty Lake City Council
- Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees
- Bicycle Advisory Board
- Spokane School District Board of Directors
- Spokane City Council Study Session
- Spokane Airport Board committee meetings
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 20 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
The BOCC will vote on whether to appoint the following individuals to various civic bodies.
- County Commissioner Josh Kerns as a non-voting member to the Spokane Transit Authority Operations Committee
- Lonnie Edwards, president of Spokane general contractor company Built on Trust, to the Spokane Planning Commission
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 20 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
That dam legislative agenda
For years, our region’s tribes have been advocating for the breach of dams due to the decline of local salmon populations, including a lawsuit that sued the federal government in an attempt to save fisheries. According to reporting from High Country News, the Biden administration recently announced support to breach the four Lower Snake River Dams in the Columbia River Basin, after reaching an agreement with four tribal nations, two states and conservation groups.
After Biden announced support for breaching the dams, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (who recently announced her retirement from her seat in a shocking twist that has local political parties frantically discussing who they’ll be running for the open seat) introduced the Defending Against Manipulative Negotiators (DAMN) Act, which would “prohibit the use of federal funds from being used to breach or alter the operations of the Lower Snake River dams and prohibit the implementation of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative,” according to a press release from McMorris Rodgers.
Next month, members of the Spokane Valley City Council will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to discuss their 2024 legislative agenda with the congressional delegation from Washington. Tomorrow, they’ll hear a presentation about energy and the lower Snake River dams.
We’re a little confused about the order of events here, but according to the background section of the agenda item, the council recently joined with other regional partners to submit testimony asking McMorris Rodgers to support maintaining the Columbia River System. Despite seemingly already having signed on in support, the council will now be receiving a presentation to give them more info on “the benefits of the Lower Snake River dams and the importance of hydropower in our region.”
The presentation will be given by representatives of Modern Electric, Kaiser Aluminum and the local steelworkers union. The slides can be viewed in advance of the meeting here.
Planning for Planning Commission
Conversations about the Planning Commission have been taking up a significant portion of Spokane Valley City Council’s agendas recently, and Tuesday will be no different. The only two action items on the table for this week are a second reading of the ordinance that would change the meeting schedule for the commission. There will also be a first reading of a resolution that would change the meeting location for the Planning Commission back to the City Hall now that construction is complete.
In final Planning Commission news, there is a special meeting for the commission planned for this Thursday, where the commission will discuss 2024 Comprehensive Plan amendments, get training on the Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records and receive an official orientation, which should be helpful for all the new members. This meeting is open to the public and will be held at 6 pm on Thursday in the Council Chambers.
Construction Updates
This isn’t an action item, but the council will receive a presentation updating them on the status of 2024 capital improvement projects. Here’s a quick look at those projects, and their projected costs, if listed:
- N. Pines Road/BNSF Grade Separation: project includes roundabout, stormwater improvements, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), lighting and trailhead. No cost listed.
- S. Bowdish Road Improvements: project includes sidewalk installation, stormwater improvements, grind and overlay and putting in a roundabout at E. 16th Avenue. The project will cost an estimated $4.3 million, with funding coming from both city funds and state grants.
- E. 16th Avenue Preservation: project includes installing grind and inlay, ITS conduit, curb ramp revisions between S. Evergreen Road and S. Adams Road. This will cost an estimated $1.2 million, which is coming from city funds.
- Trent Avenue Access Control Safety Improvements: project includes constructing concrete islands to create protected turning movements and striping revisions. This will cost an estimated $350,000, which is coming from federal funds.
- Citywide Reflective Backplates: project includes installing reflective backplates at 16 intersections. This will cost an estimated $150,000, which is coming from federal funds.
- Balfour Park Improvements–Complete Phase I: project includes completing construction on main park infrastructure, a parking lot, the events plaza and veteran’s memorial and a multipurpose park building. This will cost an estimated $4.5 million, which is coming from city funds.
- N. Pines Rd. and E. Mission Ave. Intersection Improvement: project includes adding left turn lanes for eastbound Mission Ave, right turn lane for southbound Pines Road, and reconfiguring signal operations. This will cost an estimated $1.6 million, which is coming from city funds and a federal grant.
- 2024 Local Access Pavement Preservation: project includes asphalt replacement and stormwater retrofits potentially at Castle/Aloha West. This will cost an estimated $1.5 million, which is coming from city funds.
- 2024 Cape Seal Project-Local Access: project includes applying cape seal surface treatment to Marley Heights neighborhood. This will cost an estimated $450,000, which is coming from city funds.
- E. Sprague Avenue Stormwater Project: project includes reducing E. Sprague to three lanes from N. Herald Road to N. University Road, installing a new storm system, swales, curb, sidewalks, pedestrian crosswalk signal at Balfour Park and pavement preservation and landscaping. This will cost an estimated $4 million, which is coming from city funds, a state grant and the Spokane Transit Authority.
- E. Indiana Avenue Preservation-Phase 1: project includes replacing asphalt pavement with concrete pavement. This will cost an estimated $1.5 million, which is coming from city funds.
- Sullivan Park Waterline: project includes constructing a waterline from Sullivan Park to north of the Union Pacific railroad tracks. The total cost estimate hasn’t been provided, but the city has committed funds and received a state grant for the project.
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 20 at 6 pm
City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.
Liberty Lake City Council
Updating council meeting rules
Much like the Spokane City Council, Liberty Lake’s City Council will be updating their rules of procedure for their 2024 meetings. Unlike the Spokane City Council, it seems those rules will be staying much the same, and preserving the sort of Wild West of free speech we’ve come to recognize from meetings out in Liberty Lake. While Spokane’s open forum testimony is limited to 20 speakers with up to two minutes each at the end of the meeting, Liberty Lake is keeping their three-minute time limit, allowing an unlimited number of speakers and maintaining forums at both the beginning and end of the meeting, which can make for some very late nights. We couldn’t find any substantial changes in our perusal of the rules, but if you’re a Liberty Lake regular and you did see something worth noting, let us know!
Liberty Lake hype train
We’ve covered the Spokane Valley City Council’s efforts to make SpoVal happen, including updated logos and branding and innovative efforts to draw in travelers, including pursuing sports events like regional cross country championships.
Liberty Lake is ahead of the curve, having established a Tourism Promotion Area (TPA) in 2004. According to the agenda, they’ve “historically contracted,” with Visit Spokane to manage their TPA, and, following a presentation from Visit Spokane and a vote at the end of the meeting, they plan to continue their partnership through 2026. The interesting thing about this agenda item is that there are no funds budgeted for the agreement between the city and Visit Spokane, so it’s a little unclear what Visit Spokane is getting compensated for managing the TPA.
Continuing the trend of promotion of the city, the council will also hear a presentation from Greater Spokane Inc. (GSI), the organization currently designated by the city’s Department of Commerce to be responsible for providing economic development activities and services. After the presentation, the council will vote on whether to execute a $25,000 agreement with GSI to continue to provide those economic development services through the end of 2024.
For those curious about what exactly the “economic development services,” are, here’s a list provided by GSI in the agreement, which can be read in full starting on page 50 of the council’s agenda:
- Drive the creation of a highly skilled workforce that meets the future needs of employers;
- Increase the number of jobs;
- Grow median household income;
- Attract and retain business investments in Spokane County;
- Retain local companies;
- Assist local companies expansions; and
- Recruit new companies within targeted industry clusters (advanced manufacturing, life science, clean tech and IT) that will help in the development and growth of these clusters.
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 20 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
A look back on 2023
The agendas for these meetings don’t come with packets or detailed information, but for those library enthusiasts out there, or anyone who is curious about what exactly the libraries are doing, tomorrow’s board meeting will see a presentation on the library’s 2023 Annual Report. These reports usually provide data like overall attendance, branch attendance, budgeting details and programming updates, so could be a cool opportunity to get more informed on all the services — which will continue to be funded, thanks to the levy passing — for all you library-heads out there.
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 20 at 4:30 pm
Shadle Park Library
2111 W. Wellesley Ave, Spokane, Washington, 99205
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Bicycle Advisory Board
Bike board talks greenways and theft
The agendas for the Bicycle Advisory Board (BAB) almost never have any detail on them, which makes it difficult for us to provide in-depth information, but there are a few items up for discussion at tomorrow’s meeting that caught our eye. First, there will be an update on the Pacific Avenue Greenway, the city’s proposal to create a greenway on Pacific Avenue in Downtown, which would prioritize pedestrians and cyclists. According to reporting from The Spokesman, the project could start construction as early as 2026, with the plan being to install traffic signals, bump-outs and other features that would slow car traffic and ease pedestrian and bike travel.
The other especially relevant item on the agenda is an update on recent bike theft statistics. The topic of bike theft has seen some renewed discussion, especially on Spokane Twitter — or X, as it’s currently known — after journalist Daniel Walters’ bike was stolen in November. Walters, who had previously written about bike theft after his wheels were stripped from his bike during a Spokane City Council meeting he was covering in 2021, continues to tweet regularly about the bike theft (see here and here and here).
This has brought the attention of local bike enthusiasts, and politicians alike, including Mayor Lisa Brown, who tweeted, “I sincerely hope we can improve the metric ‘Daniel Walters’ bikes stolen’ in the next 4 years,” just days after winning her election.
Tomorrow, we may truly know exactly what that metric is and what the baseline of bike theft Brown will need to improve upon in her four year term.
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 20 at 6 pm
City Council Briefing Center
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane School District Board of Directors
Special meeting notice
Prior to the regular 6 pm meeting, the Spokane School District Board of Directors is holding a special meeting at 4:30 pm. The discussion topics on the agenda seem to center on the question everyone’s wondering about: though the levy on the special election ballot passed, the school district’s bond failed for the first time since 1967, leaving officials to ponder next steps. They had planned to use the funds from the bond to replace, modernize and improve aging school campuses and facilities. According to reporting from The Spokesman, the district is planning to “seek community input on a potential future tax ask for aging facilities.”
At the special meeting, there will be a review of the special election results and a discussion of potential next steps, a presentation and discussion on 2024-2025 budget priorities and a presentation to discuss “a proposed model for providing a comprehensive system for conducting district listening sessions,” that would presumably be necessary to guide the district’s messaging and priorities before making another tax ask of voters.
Wednesday, February 21 at 4:30 pm
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
PRIDE Prep proud of progress
PRIDE Prep, a free charter school serving grades six through 12, is giving a presentation requesting that their charter be reauthorized. The school’s mission states that their curriculum is designed to challenge students and develop skills applicable to the real world through project-based learning. Charter schools in Washington are overseen by “authorizers,” which can be either at the state or district level, and are in charge of ensuring charter schools meet certain standards of education and services. Spokane Public Schools (SPS) is the “authorizer” for PRIDE Prep and Lumen High School, the only two charter schools in the district.
Since 2021, the future of PRIDE Prep has been uncertain, after the charter school faced serious questions about poor academic performance and financial record keeping. Normally, the reauthorization would be a fairly standard process, but PRIDE Prep was only conditionally renewed for a three-year period after those issues came to light. On Wednesday, PRIDE Prep will present on progress they made on goals lined out in the conditional renewal, including academic success and financial positioning. According to the presentation attached in the agenda, the school has met its goals and is asking for its charter to be renewed. The agenda item is listed as “information,” so it’s unclear if the renewal will be put to a vote on Wednesday or if PRIDE Prep will have to wait a little longer for their answer.
Wednesday, February 21 at 6 pm
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane City Council Study Sessions
Agenda here when available.
Thursday, February 22 at 11 am
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Airport Board
Two committees are meeting this Thursday: the Engineering Committee at 9 am and the Finance Committee at 10:30 am, though no agendas were available by publication time.
Agenda here.
Thursday, February 21 at 9 am
Airport Event Center
9211 W. McFarlane Road, Spokane, WA 99224 The meeting is also live streamed here.
