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 of the items that stick out to us this week include:
- The vacant Spokane City Council seat will be filled
- Possible slow-down on the Spokane Regional Homeless Authority
- A small increase in trash rates
- Renovation for Bear Lake
This week, these groups will be meeting:
- Spokane City Council
- Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee (Spokane city)
- Spokane County Board of Commissioners
- Spokane Housing Authority Board
- Spokane Valley City Council
- Mead School Board
Spokane City Council
No Vacancy - Council and other positions will be filled via appointment
The agenda item reads “Appointing ______ to fill the position of Spokane City Council Member, District 2, Position 1.” Today, the blank left when Breean Beggs accepted a Superior Court judge appointment and Lori Kinnear moved into the City Council president role will be filled. Nine candidates filed paperwork to be considered for this temporary position, which only lasts until Kinnear’s seat is filled by either Paul Dillon or Katey Treloar following the general election. City Council will also vote to confirm appointments to the Public Facilities Board, Bicycle Advisory Board, and Community, Housing, and Human Services Board.
Spokane Regional Homeless Authority Resolution
Facing continued frustrations of service providers and community organizations, complaints of continued back-room involvement, Spokane City Council looks primed to set specific and rigid terms around whether it will join the proposed Spokane Regional Homeless Authority.
A resolution in today’s agenda would make the city’s commitment to the Spokane Regional Homeless Authority short-term, and contingent on a few conditions being met. One of the biggest conditions is removing language in the current draft charter that includes detention and jail time as part of the overarching plan for combating homelessness. Instead, City Council wants to ensure the SRHA will “confine the primary scope of the regional authority to housing and homelessness issues, and to limit its interest in public safety and criminal detention.”
The resolution, which the council originally postponed in July following a request for full accounting of costs, comes following an executive order by Mayor Nadine Woodward signed on August 3 that commits city staff and leadership to creating the Spokane Regional Coalition. It states that their short term endorsement with conditions is in accordance with the executive order, and lays out even more conditions for a long-term commitment of city resources past 2024, including development and adoption of bylaws that ensure transparency, accountability, and efficiency. Because transferring power to the SRHA would also mean moving personnel who currently work within cities like Spokane into the new authority, the resolution also asks for a comprehensive, informed, and fair plan for transfer of those employees.
The Spokane Regional Continuum of Care, Community Housing and Human Services Board and Spokane Homeless Coalition submitted letters in support of the new resolution, which seems to address many of the concerns brought up by community stakeholders in recent meetings. The resolution will require four votes to pass.
Brand new body armor
For a sticker price of $200,000 a year (a total of $400,000), the Spokane Police Department is looking to purchase two years worth of ballistic body armor.
Health Centers for Schools
North Central and Shadle High Schools could be getting brand new health centers. City Council previously voted to allocate a chunk of ARPA funds for school-based health initiatives, and $300,000 of that money will be going to these health centers. Each school will receive $150,000 from council and Spokane Public Schools will need to match that amount. These centers, through a collaborative effort between SPS personnel and selected school-based health center providers, will be designed to provide students easy access to services.
Support for Firefighters
In the wake of the county’s fires, this week’s agenda sees items to support local firefighters, including votes on a five-year and $430,000 agreement to purchase uniform pants that can also be used in wildland firefighting, and a tentative agreement with the local firefighter’s union. This agreement, which is for 2021 through 2024, aims to get overtime spending back in control and give raises.
Water, sewer, trash, all the glamorous stuff
There’s a lot of information on water, sewer, and trash rates in this week’s agenda, so here’s a quick summary on what’s coming down the pipeline: water rates, wastewater and sewer rates, will see no increase in 2024 and solid waste disposal and collection will see a 10% rate increase in 2024. There are also some increased compliance instructions for grease control devices and wastewater treatments, which primarily affect business owners. Read more about it from Emry Dinman at the Spokesman here.
Agenda here
Monday, Aug 28 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
Service provider pick-me-ups
Seven local service providers will each see checks for tens of thousands of dollars if the CHHS department receives permission to receive and distribute almost $4 million from the State Department of Commerce’s Emergency Housing funds. Salvation Army, Volunteers of America, Family Promise and YWCA are the organizations set to receive the largest awards.
Federal grant for East Central?
Five minutes is scheduled to discuss putting in a federal grant application for community-centered transportation projects in East Central. If the locations discussed are found to meet the federal grant qualifications, the City could form a partnership with Spokane Transit Authority and the City of Spokane Valley to apply for $5-10 million.
Projects on the table for this funding include sidewalks, enhanced ADA compliant transit stops, street trees, lighting in select areas, a traffic signal at 5th/Altamont, improved bus connections between the Ben Burr Trail and the neighborhood, including Underhill Park and enhanced non-motorized routes lining up with future pedestrian bridge locations and arterial crossings.
Agenda here
Monday, Aug 28 at 1:15 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 County Board of Commissioners
Hearing for future road construction
The Commissioners will hold a public hearing for Tuesday, September 26 at 2 p.m. for the adoption of the 2023 Amended Annual Road Construction Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for Spokane County.
This is the plan the county will follow for new road construction for the next five years at a total cost of about $29.4 million, and includes big projects like the Bigelow Gulch-Forker Road connector, a bridge over railroad tracks and stormwater projects. You can see a full list of projects and their approximate start dates starting on page 15 of the agenda packet.
Renovation for Bear Lake
Washington state is awarding the county parks department $1.38 million dollars to pay for the first phase of a shoreline renovation project for Bear Lake Regional Park. The project includes removing of failing shoreline gabion baskets, adding new swimming beaches and lake access points, a new canoe/kayak launching area, new fishing piers, ADA enhancements, including expanded ADA parking, and habitat mitigation.
Spokane Housing Authority Board
Special Meeting, thin on details
In a special meeting notice that is pretty sparse on details, the Spokane Housing Authority Board announced they will be discussing out-of-region-travel and an “Agreement to Enter into a Housing Assistance Payments Contract (AHAP) for Beloved Sunset Apartments for Project Based Vouchers Agreement to Enter into a Housing Assistance Payments Contract (AHAP) for Beloved Sunset Apartments for Project Based Vouchers.” They’ll also be holding an executive session to discuss “items related to RCW 42.30.110 (b).” That part of the state code allows public meetings to enter executive session “to consider the selection of a site or the acquisition of real estate by lease or purchase when public knowledge regarding such consideration would cause a likelihood of increased price.” So it seems like they’re looking to buy some property, and might go into executive session to keep it secret so their interest doesn’t artificially inflate the price.
Agenda here
Monday, Aug 28 at 3:30 pm
Meeting Room 25 W. Nora Ave, Spokane, WA 99205
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Mead School Board
Public comment welcome on public comment policy
Mead’s school board agenda seems to be pretty budget focused this month with the 2023-2024 Budget adoption and vendor contracts listed under action items, but the school board will also hold a second reading and public comment session on Policy 1430 revision. The policy, which was discussed at their last meeting, seeks to simplify and open up the public-comment process, but the revision could lead to some extremely lengthy meetings in the future, as the proposed language places no restrictions on the number of individuals who can address the board, even on non-agenda items.
Agenda here
Monday, Aug 28 at 6 pm
District Office, 2323 E Farwell Road, Mead WA 99021
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Valley City Council
Joining the Opioid Abatement Council
The Spokane Valley City Council will consider a motion to join the Spokane Regional Opioid Abatement Council (OAC). This council is necessary if any of the cities in the region want to access their portion of the $518 million settlement the state won in its suit against opioid producers and pharmaceutical companies. Spokane Valley will receive a relatively small portion of money from the settlements: between $11,000 and $15,000 per year for the next 17 years, so the city is opting to join the regional council to pool their money and make more of an impact.
#BudgetGoals
The Valley council is going to vote on their budget goals for 2024, which lists the city’s budgeting priorities for next year. At the top of the list is police services, including ensuring the police precinct is improved and maintained, and the rest of the criminal justice process. The next-highest priorities are pavement, transportation and infrastructure — which likely translates to keeping potholes in check. See the whole list here.
Agenda here
Tuesday, August 29 at 6 pm.
CenterPlace Great Room
2426 N Discovery Place, Spokane Valley, WA 99216
Virtual attendance here.
Correction: A previous version of this story said the new confirmed council member would be able to vote this week, but that was inaccurate.
