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 could approve a lot of cash for cops, including a loan for $1.5 million for 18 new cars.
- At an important Urban Experience Committee meeting, the council members will discuss regulatory relief for fire rebuilds, transit oriented development on Division Street and shelter contracts for 2027.
- The Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees will vote on their budget for 2027 amid warnings of a budget shortfall.
- Get out your bikes, because the Bicycle Advisory Board has a rolling meeting! You can also join Spokane Reimagined and the Bicycle Advisory Board for a Bike Buddy Ride, where they’ll show you safe routes from a variety of locations in the city to downtown.
- The Spokane Transit Authority board will discuss two big proposals: adding actual bus riders to the board, and giving free bus passes to people with Spokane Chiefs hockey tickets.
- The Spokane County Board of Commissioners will host the first of two public hearings on data center regulations after it was revealed in July that County Commissioner Al French had been secretly courting a data center developer. This will be one of the biggest opportunities for people to give input.
- The county Planning Commission will host a work session on new regulations for data centers, as the county has paused approvals for new facilities until mid-December.
Bike Buddies
In preparation for the Week Without Driving in early October, Spokane Reimagined, in partnership with the Bicycle Advisory Board, is hosting a Bike Buddy Ride on Tuesday, September 15. Groups led by local cyclists will depart from four different destinations between 5:30 and 6:15 pm, with the end destination of Spokane City Hall, to show bike beginners safe routes to get downtown. There will be free ice cream at City Hall at the end of the event. For more information and to find the departure location closest to you, click here.
Spokane City Council Agenda Review
Up for a vote next week:
- Police accountability activist Jim Leighty is set to be appointed to the Police Ombuds Commission.
- The council could pass a special budget ordinance that would allow unplanned spending to repair damage at the Northside Landfill caused by the Spokane Complex fires. The repair work is necessary for “site stabilization, environmental protection, infrastructure repair, erosion control, revegetation, debris-response equipment, and restoration of critical landfill systems,” and must begin this year to keep the landfill in regulatory compliance.
- An ordinance designed to impose harsher penalties on the owners of “chronic nuisance properties” who fail to address chronic public safety concerns.
Up for a vote in two weeks:
- A resolution to authorize 2027-2028 residential street maintenance projects funded through the Transportation Benefit District fund. Those projects include a slate of chip seal, grind and overlay and sidewalk repairs throughout the city.
Agenda here.
Tuesday, September 15 at 11 am
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
Spokane City Council
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Cash for cops
The Spokane Police Department is asking the council to authorize taking out a loan to spend $1.5 million on 18 new police vehicles. The council could also approve an interlocal agreement with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, who are paying Spokane up to $1.15 million for the expansion of the Spokane police academy, which is getting a new building to train officers from across the region.
Agenda here
Wednesday, September 16 at 6 pm
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane City Council Study Sessions
Agenda here when available
Thursday, September 17 at 11 am
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Urban Experience Committee (Spokane city)
🌶️🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Regulatory relief for fire rebuilds
The council will discuss an ordinance that would add flexibility into strict regulatory requirements to make rebuilding after the Spokane Complex fires easier. It would give the city’s planning director the authority to quickly approve residential rebuilds that are like the structures that burned down.
It would also allow people to place an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on properties that have no houses. Traditionally, ADUs are only permitted as additions to properties that have a primary structure — think putting a small mother-in-law suite in the backyard of a house. However, for some in the neighborhoods impacted by the fires, the primary structure was destroyed by fire. This would allow people to throw up an ADU structure to live in while undertaking the longer process of rebuilding the main dwelling.
Finally, the ordinance would also exempt rebuilds from the general facilities charge, if they use the same water meter service size that they had before the fires.
Later in the meeting, the council will also discuss an ordinance to extend permit fee deferrals for fire-related rebuilds.
The TOD!
The Division Street Transit Oriented Development (TOD) plan to develop along the Division Street corridor in conjunction with the addition of a bus rapid transit line on the street will be discussed at the committee meeting. The city is contributing $10,000 in funding for this plan, with the lion’s share of current money for it coming from a $405,000 grant award. What’s up for discussion is a resolution, so it wouldn’t really do anything yet, but would cement the city’s intention to move forward with supporting the TOD!
Out of the cold
There’s a chill in the air as summer ends, and the city is thinking about shelter operators for keeping our unhoused neighbors out of the worst inclement weather conditions. The council will discuss a resolution to approve Catholic Charities and Jewels Helping Hands — the only two organizations who applied for the responsibility — as inclement weather shelter operators for 2027. The inclement weather beds will be funded by 1590 funds with $1 million available for services throughout next year. Here’s the bed breakdown:
- Up to 35 beds per night for single men at the House of Charity Shelter
- Up to 13 beds per night for families with children at St. Margaret’s Shelter
- Up to 20 beds per night for adult women at the Morning Star Shelter.
The council will also discuss an amendment to the existing scattered site shelter operations contract with Jewels Helping Hands that would add funding for the Aurora Center for LGBTQ+ adults through the 2027 fiscal year, providing 16 regular shelter beds designed to serve queer and transgender adults.
Agenda here
Tuesday, September 15 at 12 pm
Council Briefing Center
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Budget for books?
The Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees has been warning of a potential budget shortfall and asking the Spokane City Council to step out of their normal annual budget process to guarantee funding that would prevent hour and staffing cuts. However, in the wake of the fires, the library board released a statement acknowledging that they’re “unlikely to receive a final budget number for next year until late fall 2026,” — which is during the regular annual budget process.
“Because of this budget uncertainty, paired with the devastating fires that affected our community, we know that this is not the time to cut library hours, staff, or services,” the statement says. “Therefore, the Board of Trustees has decided that until we have more information from City of Spokane leadership on a target budget number, we do not feel we can make a responsible decision to reduce hours or staff. As our community recovers from the fires, we will do everything we can to maintain library hours, staffing, and services.”
At their monthly meeting this week, the board will vote on their 2027 budget adoption. It’s interesting timing, given they won’t know what dollar amount they’re getting from the city until November or December.
Agenda here
Tuesday, September 15 at 4:30 pm
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Bicycle Advisory Board (special meeting)
🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲/5 bikes
Rolling through the agenda
The Bicycle Advisory Board is having one of their special rolling meetings where they bike through the streets of Spokane while discussing bike infrastructure. This meeting starts at City Hall, has a midpoint stop at 7 pm at the intersection of Cincinnati Street and Desmet Avenue, and finishes at 7:30 pm back at City Hall.
Agenda here
Tuesday, September 15 at 6:15 pm
Shadle Park Library
2111 W. Wellesley Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session
🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Slashing inspection fees for rebuilding after fires
The county is looking to cut inspection fees by 50% for building permits for Spokane Complex fires victims who are trying to rebuild their homes. The fees are calculated by the square footage of the project and can run hundreds of dollars.
Agenda here
Tuesday, September 15 at 9 am
Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Legislative Session
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Public hearing for data center regulation
The board will host the first of two public hearings on proposed data center regulations. The hearing will take place against the backdrop of a loud and at times angry advocacy campaign among county residents demanding transparency from public officials about data center proposals. Some folks want the commission to ban data centers altogether. Over the last few months, people in Spokane County learned Avista Corp. and County Commissioner Al French had been holding secretive discussions to bring the controversial facilities into Spokane County. The second public hearing will be hosted by the county Planning Commission next month.
New software system on table for SCRAPS
The Spokane County Animal Protection Service, which provides animal protection and welfare services in Spokane County, is looking for BOCC approval to buy a new software system called Chameleon. The system would cost $86,240 to set up. A slide presentation from a previous meeting says the agency’s current software system, Shelter Buddy, is plagued with “accuracy concerns,” “slow vendor response” and long animal processing times. The efficiencies achieved by Chameleon would offset the software’s annual operating costs, the presentation says.
Agenda here
Tuesday, September 15 at 2 pm
Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane County Planning Commission
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Zoning for ‘large-load’ facilities
The commission is hosting a work session on “Large Electrical Load Facility Zoning Code,” likely referring to a developing policy to regulate data centers. Last month, the county Board of Commissioners paused approvals for new data centers until December 15 so that Planning Department staff could create a zoning code for the facilities, which can use massive amounts of electricity and water. The decision came after constituents demanded the board do something about data centers, which developers have been trying to locate in Spokane County. The Planning Commission will host a public forum on the regulations next month.
Agenda here
Thursday, September 17 at 9 am
Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors
🌶️🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Rider rep
In 2025, the State Legislature passed a law allowing transit riders to be appointed to the boards that govern transit agencies — perhaps a no-brainer, given that many of the elected leaders on these boards don’t actually use the transit services they’re making decisions about. Until now, the Spokane Transit Authority has taken no official action to add transit riders to the board, since the law didn’t actually mandate it.
But in the agenda for this week’s meeting, we noticed CEO Karl Otterstrom will be presenting on “board composition.” During a Board Operations Committee meeting three months ago, members discussed potentially seating up to two non-elected transit riders to the STA board. The full board will be discussing this potential option this week. The next steps would likely be holding “a future Board workshop that focuses on board composition and transit rider involvement in decision-making at STA,” so we’re still a ways out from having riders on the board, but it’s cool they’re at least talking about involving the actual users in decision-making.
Bus passes to the boy aquarium
Are you a longtime fan of hockey? Did you newly discover it after the romance novel craze introduced Heated Rivalry readers to “the boy aquarium?” Do you love the bus? Spokane Transit Authority has a new partnership that may be of interest to you — for the 2026-2027 hockey season, you will be able to get free STA rides to any home game with the purchase of a game ticket.
“Ridership would be tracked, and the Spokane Chiefs Hockey Club would reimburse STA for $1 for each ride up to $10,000,” the agenda reads. “STA would also engage in a sponsorship with the Spokane Chiefs Hockey Club through this partnership, at $10,000. This sponsorship would enable marketing opportunities of STA services at Spokane Chiefs games and through their social media.”
This is the first pilot program coming from the Connect 2035 to address the initiative of integrating transit passes into cultural and sporting event tickets, and could lead to a long-term partnership with the Public Facilities District.
Agenda here
Thursday, September 17 at 1:30 pm
STA Boardroom
1230 W Boone Avenue, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Airport Board
🫑/5 peppers
Agenda here.
Wednesday, September 16 at 9 am
9211 W. McFarlane Road, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Mead School District Board of Directors (work session)
🫑/5 peppers
Agenda here
Monday, September 14 at 6 pm
12509 N. Market St. Bldg. D, Mead
Watch via Zoom here.
Central Valley School District Board of Directors
🫑/5 peppers
Agenda here
Monday, September 14 at 6 pm
Board Room at 2218 N Molter Rd
Liberty Lake
Watch via Zoom here.
Spokane Valley City Council
🫑/5 peppers
Agenda here
Tuesday, September 15 at 6 pm
10210 E Sprague Ave, Spokane Valley
Virtual attendance here.
Liberty Lake City Council
🫑/5 peppers
Agenda here
Tuesday, September 15 at 7 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake
The meeting is also live streamed here.
