Spokane County Sheriff will do security for FIFA

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:

Spokane City Council could approve about $2.5 million in federal funding to go towards affordable housing projects across the city, including 22 new units in Lincoln Heights.
The Public Safety & Community Health Committee will discuss traffic camera infractions, public defender caseload standards and spending another $250,000 on case management for ‘high utilizers,’ of emergency services.
The Spokane Transit Authority is holding a mystery special workshop meeting this week, details to be announced.
Spokane County is scheduling a public hearing on April 14 for a ballot measure that would create a protection district for the contaminated West Plains aquifer.
The Spokane County Sheriff has received a $725,000 grant from the federal government to send deputies to the World Cup in Seattle in June and July to supplement security at the massive sporting event.
Spokane Valley Police Chief Dave Ellis will present the city council data showing a decline in opioid overdose deaths in 2025 from 2024.

Important meetings this week:

Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
Public Safety & Community Health Committee
Board of County Commissioners - Briefing Session and Legislative Session
Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors
Spokane School District Board of Directors
Spokane Valley City Council

Spokane City Council

🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers

Lambdin to the library

Former City Council Member Shelby Lambdin, who was appointed to briefly fill a Spokane council seat before the election last year, could find herself reappointed again tonight — to the Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees, though, not council!

Affordable housing projects

The city needs to spend about $2.5 million in funding from the federal government on affordable housing projects that “increase and/or preserve the supply of affordable housing units serving extremely-low (30% of Area Median Income) and very-low-income households (below 50% of Area Median Income) in the City of Spokane,” according to the notice of funding availability. Tonight, the council could vote to approve the projects the funding will be spent on, following recommendations from the CHHS board:

$1,191,000 to Proclaim Liberty, a project spearheaded by Bethany Presbyterian Church that plans to put 22 units of affordable housing in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood
$341,025 to the Volunteers of America for rehabilitating Alexandria’s House, a licensed maternity group home in Spokane for pregnant and parenting homeless teens.
$352,200 to Take Up The Cause for rehabilitation of the Beloved Sunset apartments, which have more than 50 units for low-income families and individuals under 60% of the area median income
$152,725 to Trinity Transitional Housing to rehabilitate Maxwell House, which has units available for women with children to “rebuild their lives after treatment or incarceration.”
$420,000 to Vasilenko for attached townhomes at South Crystal Ridge

New festival streets

Last summer, the Spokane City Council passed a law that identified “festival streets,” in the city and gave those streets access to a new, stream-lined closure process with standardized traffic control requirements and potential cost reductions for both event organizers and the city. Basically, the ordinance made it easier to hold events like Tacos y Tequila, Spokane Pride and Terrain’s Bazaar. Tonight, the council will hold a first reading on an update to the ordinance that would expand the section of Garland Avenue designated for festivals, and add a section of Sprague Avenue to the list.

Agenda here
Monday, March 30 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, April 2 at 11 am
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Public Safety & Community Health Committee

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Speed + red light camera statistics

It’s time for the monthly update on how many violations the city’s speed and red-light violation-triggered cameras captured last month. In February of 2026:

The red light cameras captured 1,923 violations, up 438 from the same time frame in 2024. This increase is partially attributed to new cameras coming online at Division and Magnesium.
The speed cameras captured 1,856 violations, up 258 from the same time frame in 2024. This increase is attributed to a fully operational system, plus three new cameras — though cameras at Adams Elementary have since been shut down.
Cameras at eastbound Mission and Greene captured the highest amount of red light violations with 380 last month, 169 more violations than the next highest intersection, which was northbound Freya and 3rd with 211.
Cameras at southbound Nevada and Longfellow caught the highest amount of speeding violations with 428 last month, 149 more than the next highest, which was 279 violations at northbound Regal and Ferris.

Public Defender caseloads

No additional information is provided in the agenda, but there will be a discussion on Public Defender caseload standards. This comes after the state lowered the number of cases public defenders were allowed to take at once — an effort to fight burnout and attrition that created the need to hire more public defenders. Local governments across the state have said this creates financial hardship, as they bear most of the brunt of public defender costs.

‘High utilizer’

Also up for discussion is a contract amendment that would pay Consistent Care Support Services an additional $250,000 to operate the Hot Spotters program downtown for a second year of services. Hot Spotters is the program intended to provide “intensive case management,” for the people the city has designated as ‘high utilizers’ — individuals who have substance use disorder and “frequently interact with emergency services, law enforcement, and healthcare systems in the community.” This $250,000 was approved in the current year’s budget and brings the total contract amount with Consistent Care Support Services to $625,000.

Agenda here
Monday, March 30 at 12 pm
Council Chambers
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

$2M Fancher Property purchase for conservation futures

The Parks, Recreation & Golf Department wants to spend $2 million on a 78-acre property, called the “Fancher Property,” near Minnehaha, the Beacon Hill Conservation Area and the Centennial Trail for the conservative futures program. That program, which voters approved in 1994, currently preserves more than 9,000 acres in the county from development. The Fancher Property sits in an area that is quickly developing, according to the agenda sheet. The purchase would protect established hiking trails and wildlife habitat.

Remaking the SREC board

After the City of Spokane and Spokane County agreed last year to phase out emergency phone call services from the city from the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications over the next two years, the board is making some of the first official moves in the transition. Namely, the board is asking the BOCC to remove Spokane city representatives from the board and the finance committee.

Agenda here
Tuesday, March 31 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 West Plains aquifer protection

The county is considering asking voters to approve a protection district for the West Plains aquifers, which are contaminated with forever chemicals stemming largely from airport operations at Spokane International Airport and Fairchild Air Force Base. It has scheduled a public hearing on April 14 at 2 pm at the Commissioners’ Hearing Room in the Public Works Building for a ballot measure that voters would weigh in the August primary election.

Most people who live in Eastern Washington are served by the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer, an entirely separate water source that has for four decades been preserved by a protection district, a taxing district that funds preservation and educational efforts. The West Plains aquifer — which provided water to Airway Height residents before the contamination was detected s – does not have any such protection. Some private well owners in the rural areas between Spokane and Airway Heights still drink from the aquifer.

More than $725K for sheriff’s office to do security at World Cup

The FIFA World Cup is going to Seattle in June and July — and the Spokane County sheriff is getting hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide security. The sheriff’s office received a grant of $726,158 from the Department of Homeland Security to help with security during the six matches that will take place at the Seattle Stadium during the event, which is one of the largest sporting competitions in the world. It’s not clear in the agenda material whether they’ll do security at the free Spokane watch parties or potential practices in Spokane or actually go to Seattle. But the agenda item says deputies will “support the safe execution of World Cup activities and bolster security capabilities at official FIFA-designated locations,” according to the agenda sheet. The BOCC has to approve the funding.

$1M to replace damaged golf netting at LL driving range

The board is set to approve $1 million in bond funding to replace netting at the driving range at the Liberty Lake Golf Course, which was damaged in a December wind storm. The funds are to be paid back from the Golf Fund over the next 20 years. The replacement contract will likely go to Tulalip-based Net Services, LLC, a national firm that builds barriers for golf courses and other sports complexes.

Agenda here
Tuesday, March 31 at 2 pm
Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors (regular & special meetings)

?/5 peppers

Special board workshop

On Wednesday, the Spokane Transit Authority will hold a special board workshop from 11:45 am to 1:30 pm. This is listed as in-person with a virtual option. No other details were listed as of publication time, so we don’t know what the workshop will be about or where you can tune in virtually.

Editor's Note: This item has been updated to reflect that April 1 is Wednesday and not Thursday.

Agenda here
Wednesday, April 1 at 11:45 to 1:30 pm
STA Boardroom
1230 W Boone Avenue, Spokane.

Spokane School District Board of Directors

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Wednesday, April 1 at 6 pm
200 N. Bernard, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Valley City Council

🌶️/5 peppers

OD deaths down from ‘24 but up from previous years

Spokane Valley saw a slight reprieve from overdose deaths in 2025 from 2024, according to a presentation Police Chief Dave Ellis will present to the city council. In 2024, 332 people died from opioids; in 2025, the number was 263. That’s still more deaths, however, than 2022 (233) and 2023 (215) according to the presentation. The average of all four years was 263, representing an overall upward trend.