Spokane to host World Cup team + city may extend ban on alcohol sales near schools

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 Police Department wants to spend nearly $230,000 on new equipment that will help it police World Cup events in Spokane — also, Spokane is hosting Team Egypt!
Spokane Valley may sign onto a county resolution that would bring it in line with new state standards that reduce caseloads for public defenders.
The Liberty Lake City Council is developing its hazard management plan — part of its comprehensive long-term plan — which in part spells out how the city will manage wildfires in the next 20 years.
The Spokane Public Library is considering new policy revisions that govern its security cameras with the aim of improving privacy for library patrons.
The Spokane Plan Commission will potentially add millions in spending to repaving roads included in the six-year plan for road projects.

Important meetings this week:

Spokane City Council

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Team Egypt will stay in Airway Heights, practice for FIFA in Spokane

Spokane will host Team Egypt for the FIFA World Cup in June and July, meaning one of the greatest soccer players, Mohamed Salah, will practice at Gonzaga University. The team will stay at the Kalispel Tribe’s Northern Quest Resort and Casino in Airway Heights, according to The Spokesman. Spokane will host several prominent events for FIFA, one of the biggest sporting events in the world, which happens this summer in Seattle.

$230k on police tech for the World Cup and beyond

The council is looking to approve more than $200,000 on police equipment to prepare for the World Cup events Spokane will host. The World Cup will be held in Seattle, but Spokane will host practices and will be the host city for Team Egypt. Some of the equipment is focused on surveillance, some on protecting venues from vehicle attacks, including the Gonzaga University practice sites. The money will come from the police department’s capital budget, and they expect it to be used for future events. The resolution that will approve the purchases is sponsored by council members Michael Cathcart and Kate Telis.

The equipment the department is looking to buy:

four Skydio X10 drone platforms from Axon Enterprises for $126,924.32
Meridian Archer Trailer Kit 1000 from Meridian Rapid Defense Group for $99,786.21

Booze ban around parks and schools may continue

The city’s ban on booze outlets near city parks and schools may get a second life in the coming weeks. The temporary Ordinance C36680 was adopted last year and bans the sale of alcohol within 500 feet of places that cater to kids or people who are in recovery from addiction. The extension of the ban, sponsored by council members Kitty Klitzke and Kate Telis, would last until October 28, 2026. But the agenda sheet says the city’s next long-term plan, due to be adopted by the end of the year, will likely make the ban permanent.

Agenda here
Monday, April 20 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 23 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

Cops & World Cup briefing

Assistant Police Chief Matt Cowles will brief the committee on the World Cup equipment purchases the Spokane Police Department wants to make for Spokane’s World Cup events. (Read about it above.)

CBDG funding available

City officials are recommending allocations of nearly $1.8 million in Community Development Block Grant funding that would fund capital projects and neighborhood development. The neighborhood projects would divvy up $400,000 between three projects:

the Shiloh Hills Friendship Park Sports Court would get $266,667
the Nevada Heights Just One Neighborhood Project would get $88,889
Chief Garry Park’s Northeast Youth and Family Services parking lot would get $44,444

And $1,102,484 in capital project funding would be divided between eight projects:

the Northeast Youth Center Rehabilitation would get $210,000
Transitions TLC would get $55,000 for a boiler replacement
the Northeast Public Development Authority would get $199,500
the Northeast Community Center Association would get $142,320 for air filtration upgrades
the Catholic Housing Services of Eastern Washington would get $117,205 to make improvements to the Ridpath
the Salvation Army’s Stepping Stones Rehabilitation would get $150,000
the Salish School Of Spokane $52,789 for its Salish Cultural Recreation Community Center
the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center $175,670 for restroom rehabilitation

TIF funding for Broadway Foods and Laundromat

Broadway Foods and Laudromat is requesting a $237,057 reimbursement from the city for construction of public infrastructure — pedestrian, street and utility assets that serve the general public — near its West Central property. The funding would be provided through a tax increment funding district that encourages businesses to improve their surroundings for the benefit of the public.

Agenda here
Monday, April 20 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

Library revises policy

The board is expected to take a vote on approving revisions to the library’s Security Camera and Video Monitoring Policy (new name). According to the agenda, the goal is to strengthen the privacy protections for library patrons and create clearer access, among other things.

“The 2018 procedures provided a basic framework but lacked meaningful controls over access

documentation, external disclosure, and accountability,” the agenda reads. “The revised policy addresses these gaps by establishing clear written standards that protect patron privacy and intellectual freedom, support consistent and equitable enforcement, and reduce legal and reputational risk to the Library.”

Key changes outlined in the agenda include:

New language that explicitly forbids use of surveillance to monitor or restrict people based on “protected characteristics or lawful use of library resources”
The revised policy would require documentation of access to archived surveillance data, including the date, the employee who accessed it and the reason for the data review
External organizations need to submit written requests to access surveillance recordings and specifically identify the incident they’re seeking, date, time range and purpose
The executive director (or designee) will need to authorize any disclosure of recordings, including for law enforcement
The library can only disclose the “minimum necessary portion of a recording.”
The library can decline requests that fail to meet policy requirements or compromise the privacy of a patron or confidentiality requirements
Required documentation of disclosures made as well as denials
That for the retention of a recording past 30 days, the executive director (or designee) will be required to make a written determination that keeping that record is required; documentation of the reason and length of extension is required
Two new sections: The first is an Oversight and Compliance section that makes the executive director responsible for periodically reviewing access logs, retention practices and disclosures. The other is a Policy Review section that requires a review every two years at least or whenever there are changes to law, technology or the library’s priorities.

Agenda here
Tuesday, April 21 at 5:30 pm
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Bicycle Advisory Board

🫑/5 peppers

Lime Scooter Contract Update

There’s very little information in the agenda about this, but it’s important: city planners will give the committee an update on the city’s contract with Lime Scooters. Show up to learn how the city works with the company.

Agenda here
Tuesday, April 21 at 4:30 pm
Shadle Park Library
2111 W. Wellesley Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Plan Commission

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Millions in new street projects added to six-year street plan

Spokane’s six-year street plan contains specific projects to improve roads, and the Plan Commission is considering 11 newly added projects to study and improve streets and trails around the city. Some of the more expensive ones are simply repaving projects, including:

$6.96 million to repave portions of Ash, Maple and Monroe streets
$5.12 million to repave parts of Sprague and 29th avenues and
$4.3 million to repair the Monroe Street Bridge

Agenda here
Wednesday, April 22 at 2 pm
Council Briefing Center
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

West Valley School District Board of Directors

🫑/5 peppers

Revenue loss

The board is expected to discuss the financial impact of enrollment declines and other factors affecting finances for the district in 2025-2027. According to agenda materials, district officials estimated a loss of about $3.2 million in revenue. About $1.6 million of that was due to enrollment decline. The discussion would also include talk of what the district plans to do in response and its mitigation strategy.

Agenda here
Wednesday, April 22 at 6:30 pm
District Conference Center
8818 E. Grace, Spokane
Watch via Zoom here.

Spokane School District Board of Directors

🫑/5 peppers

Special meeting on budget

The board will hold a special meeting ahead of its regular meeting that is expected to include discussion of the 2026-2027 preliminary budget for the general fund.

New A/V system for North Central

After that, the board is set to meet for their regularly scheduled meeting. A vote is expected to approve a contract with Avidex, an audiovisual vendor based in Spokane, to replace North Central High School’s audio/visual system.

“The existing system is antiquated and not fully functional. This replacement will ensure full theater audio/visual control capabilities along with ease of use for simple presentations for staff unfamiliar with the system,” the agenda reads.

The contract is worth roughly $523,600. Construction is slated to begin around June of this year with the final completion expected in August.

Agenda here
Wednesday, April 22 at 6 pm
200 N. Bernard, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Valley City Council

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Indigent defense caseload standards

Public defense is a constitutional right in the United States, meaning governments have to provide lawyers for people who can’t afford them on their own. But as the burden of defending people has mounted over the years due to reduction in public resources and new ways of gathering evidence, public defenders have been increasingly unable to handle the amount of work they have to do. The Washington Supreme Court last year adopted new caseload standards requiring that public defenders represent defendants in no more than 300 cases a year. Spokane Valley contracts with Spokane County for public defense and is considering supporting a county resolution that would adopt that same standard at Tuesday’s meeting.

Agenda here
Tuesday, April 21 at 6 pm
10210 E Sprague Ave, Spokane Valley
Virtual attendance here.

Liberty Lake City Council

🌶️/5 peppers

Hazard plan presentation

The coming summer is anticipated to be a doozy in terms of drought and wildfire danger, and communities around Washington state are planning on how to deal not only with this year but for the next 20 years as fire danger will get even worse. Those plans are contained in “hazard mitigation plans,” which are much more comprehensive plans to deal with all kinds of dangers that exist in built and natural environments. Liberty Lake will host a workshop on its hazard mitigation plan at its Tuesday meeting, an excellent opportunity to learn how communities plan for risk.