Primary ballots due soon and a mayoral candidate forum on Wednesday

*Don't forget to giddy-up to the ballot drop before next Tuesday, y'hear?* *(Photo illustration by Erin Sellers)*

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 another somewhat light week, but here are the items that stick out to us:

Spokane City's Community, Housing and Human Services Department (CHHS) wants city council to approve giving the Salvation Army more than double their original budget per month and shorten the contract period by two months.
The camping ban we covered last week made the ballot, but more than 2,000 signatures were thrown out by county election officials.
There’s a virtual candidate forum for mayoral candidates this week. (Thanks Library Shane!)

This week, these groups are meeting:

Spokane City Council Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
Spokane City Council
Central Valley School District Board of Directors
Spokane City Plan Commission
Spokane Regional Health District Board
Most County meetings have been canceled

Spokane Mayoral Candidate Forum

On Wednesday evening, tune-in to the one and only pre-primary candidate forum. Hosted by the Spokane library and moderated by KHQ’s Sean Owsley, this event is only available online and will not be held in-person.

Wednesday, July 26
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Virtual Only: Link here

Ballots due August 1

It’s votin’ time, pardners! Ballots for Spokane’s primary elections were mailed out last week, and are due on August 1 by 8 pm.

The big positions on this year’s ballot include the mayoral race, city council seats in Districts 2 and 3, and City Council president.

While neighboring states (looking at you, Idaho) have partisan primary systems that force voters to declare a party affiliation to vote on who appears on the ballot in November, Washington uses a Top Two Primary, which is exactly what it sounds like: the candidates who are the top two vote-getters in the primary elections advance to the ballot in November.

This is why, in some elections where there’s only two candidates — such as Spokane City Council District One, where incumbent Michael Cathcart is vying for re-election against Lindsey Shaw — no primary election is necessary and both candidates automatically advance to the November election.

The Gentrification of Rural Washington

This Tuesday, sociology professor Jennifer Sherman will present a lecture on gentrification and the changing landscape of Washington’s rural communities. This event is in person at the South Hill library.

Tuesday, July 25
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
South Hill Library
3324 South Perry Street
Spokane, WA 99203

Spokane City Council

Camping ban makes the ballot

Attorney Brian Hansen and businessman Larry Stone’s camping ban initiative, which prohibits setting up a camp within 1,000 feet of a playground, park, school or childcare facility is set for the November ballot after the County Clerk's Office approved the signatures submitted by the campaign. The excessive margin previously reported (7,369 signatures) was significantly downgraded after the clerk’s office threw out 2,056 signatures of the 4,769 it examined. Still, the 2,713 approved signatures is more than enough to advance the initiative to a vote this fall.

Part of the initiative process mandates that the jurisdiction the law will affect — in this case, Spokane City Council — must appoint representatives both for and against the initiative to pitch their side of the argument to voters. The representatives in favor of this initiative are Hansen and Councilmember Jonathan Bingle. Arguing against the camping ban are Julie Garcia, the founder of the nonprofit Jewels Helping Hands; Terri Anderson, the Spokane Office and Statewide Policy Director of the Tenants Union of Washington; and labor organizer John Alder. Council will vote to approve these groups tonight.

Weed money

The city council is seeking to separate revenue gained from taxes on marijuana sales. Under the proposed ordinance, money from cannabis taxes would go to a special revenue fund rather than the general fund. According to the agenda text, in the past money generally went from this tax to the general fund and then ended up going to the Spokane Police Department. This proposal appears to direct more money to other options besides law enforcement. Under the bill, SPD would get the first $500,000 in tax revenue and the remainder would be available across multiple city departments (including SPD) and be dedicated to prevention and education programs like the Opioid Abatement Council.

Expensive vaccine mandate fight

The city attorney’s office is asking for an additional $50,000 to bump its contract with Summit Law Group up to $205,000 for their work defending the city against a group suing over vaccine mandates. The suit was originally brought by former-Spokane Fire Battalion Chief Michael Bacon and two dozen other former employees, among them Mayoral Candidate Tim Archer, who were suing against the city’s implementation of a state vaccine mandate that led to them losing their jobs.

Commerce money for homeless and housing programs

The Community, Housing, and Human Services (CHHS) Department has a big check coming their way. Spokane City Council will vote to receive $15,820,937 from the Washington State Department of Commerce. These funds are intended to help at-risk households keep and maintain stable housing as part of the city’s five-year strategy to end homelessness. While some of the money has already been pledged to various programs, the portion of the funding not already allocated is set to go out this fall.

Middle housing laws becoming permanent

The city council will be voting on making Spokane’s interim middle housing ordinance (BOCA) permanent. The bill allows up to a fourplex on residential lots throughout the city and is designed to encourage denser development and the creation of additional housing in the city. Since Spokane passed its interim zoning law last year, state legislators have mandated that cities statewide adjust their zoning standards and legalize denser housing in previously single-family zoned areas.

Agenda here
Monday, July 24 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.

Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee

Off-TRAC

CHHS director Jenn Cerecedes is requesting additional funding for operations at the Trent Resource and Assistance Center and a shortening of Salvation Army’s Contract to operate the region’s largest homeless shelter. The original contract signed by the city was for $5.64 million to operate the shelter from November of 2022 through the end of the year. The latest request puts the overall budget at $10.34 million and terminates the Salvation Army’s contract at the end of October of this year. That amounts to the city paying more than double the contracted price per month for operations at the shelter.

Playing Catch-Up on Transportation Briefings

Citing staffing shortage and turnover, the Citizen's Transportation Advisory Board has been running behind in briefing the Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee for the last two years. They’ll be providing a five minute briefing to bring the committee up to speed, hopefully there wasn’t any big transportation news in Spokane in the last couple years.

Interim no more? City Attorney up for official confirmation

Lynden Smithson, the Interim City Attorney who faced public complaints from Mayoral Candidate Lisa Brown for overstaying the appointment by about six months, has been selected for appointment by Mayor Woodward. In a tweet, Woodward claimed that Smithson was still interim because “the City Council won’t confirm him.” We’ll find out today if that’s the case as the City Council votes to confirm or deny. An interesting subplot: if he is not confirmed, will Smithson continue to serve in an endless interim capacity?

Agenda here
Monday, July 24 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.

Spokane City Plan Commission

Agenda here
Wednesday, July 12 at 2 pm
The meeting is hybrid with access link in the agenda
Council Chambers in the Lower Level of City Hall
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd