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.
The RANGE team is taking Monday off for Indigenous Peoples Day but Spokane City Council is not, so we wanted to get you your weekly city council briefing before we take off for the long weekend. As for all the other meetings, don’t worry! We’ll be here bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Tuesday morning writing up the important items from all of those.
Spokane City Council
No new jail - city council edition
Spokane City Council will vote on a resolution to formally oppose Measure 1, the hotly court-contested measure on November’s ballot to spend tax-payer dollars on criminal justice and behavioral health. And jails, as the ballot now reflects after a legal change from a coalition of organizations including Spokane Community Against Racism (SCAR), NAACP and the Peace and Action Justice League. A formal opposition from the city council wouldn’t prevent the measure from appearing on the ballot or the city from receiving dollars, should the measure pass.
Language access for all
Without a full range of necessary language access services, many citizens have been left unable to access legal help, access the criminal justice system and even stay abreast of decisions made that may impact their communities. Monday will see the first reading of a language access ordinance we previously covered in CIVICS. The ordinance, sponsored by Michael Cathcart and Betsy Wilkerson, would require all City departments to include language access planning in their budgeting starting in 2024, and to have language access plans fully implemented by the end of 2025. The ordinance also states city council would begin planning immediately for translation of council documents and interpretation of meetings, and identifies specific documents that must be translated, as well as council proceedings for which interpreter services might be made available. Implementation and oversight of the process would fall to the Office of Civil Rights, Equity, and Inclusion. If the ordinance passes, that office would hire a language access coordinator.
Note: It’s possible that the agenda we’re working from could be amended over the weekend, so we can’t 100% guarantee these will be the only big things happening, but as of Friday afternoon, they are.
A previous version of this story said the Urban Experience Committee was not meeting this week, however it did meet at 1:15 pm on Monday.
