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:

Ballots have been sent and our Elections Guide is live! Read up on the races and cast your ballot by August 4th.
Candidate Survivor: Spokane’s Spiciest Candidate Forum is taking over Overbluff Cellars this Thursday from 6 to 9 pm, door open at 5 pm. Tickets are still available here.
Spokane City Council could finally pass the Right to Cooling ordinance this week, or they could adopt an amendment that would push the earliest possible adoption back to August 19.
At the Finance and Administration Committee, the Spokane City Council will discuss council staffing, and an ordinance that could make firing of staff members a more transparent process after cuts of two initiative managers.
The Spokane County Board of Commissioners meeting is canceled this week.
The Spokane and East Valley school district boards are looking to replace existing property tax levies, one of which funds educational programming the state doesn’t provide for and another for new building projects.
Spokane Valley will award a nearly $3.3 million contract to the Inland Asphalt Company to preserve and improve the section of Sullivan Road from the Union Pacific Railroad bridge to Kiernan Avenue.
The Central Valley School District Board of Directors will hold a board discussion on AI usage in the district, student screentime and cameras on school buses.

Elections

Ballots have been sent out for the 2026 Primary Elections! The RANGE elections page is paywall-free and live, with stories, candidate questionnaires and more. Read up here before you cast your ballot! Other handy links:

Register to vote here.
Read the Spokane County Voters Guide here.
Get a replacement ballot here if yours didn’t come or got damaged
Find your nearest ballot drop box here.

Candidate Survivor: Spokane’s Spiciest Candidate Forum

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

We’ve partnered with the Washington Bus Education Fund, Hogwash Whiskey Den and KSPS to bring you a candidate forum like no other. Candidate Survivor: Spokane’s Spiciest Candidate Forum will see RANGE’s Erin Sellers terrorizing candidates from five political races in the region with spicy wings and even spicier questions. You can reserve your tickets for the event here, and don’t forget to turn in your ballot to a ballot box by 8 pm on next Tuesday!

BUY TIX HERE!

Spokane City Council

🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers

We’re staying experimental as we figure out exactly how to best cover Spokane City Council with their new schedule and format. Reminder that they don’t finalize their agendas until after the Tuesday Agenda Review, but here’s what’s currently listed on the docket:

Up for a vote this week

The council could vote to accept almost $300,000 in state grant funding from the Connecting Housing to Infrastructure program, and spend it on utilities upgrades for affordable housing projects.
They could also accept a grant from the Department of Justice to purchase two freezers for the police department, which will be used to store sexual assault kits as part of an effort to solve sexual assault cases.
The council could finally pass the Right to Cooling ordinance, as amended on July 13. However, Council President Betsy Wilkerson has proposed another amendment, which would set the vote back to August 19 if passed. The Wilkerson amendment would change the amount that tenants could deduct from their rent for purchasing a cooling device $500 plus an additional $5 every year, capping out at no more than $550. As currently written, tenants can deduct $500 plus an additional amount as determined by a city index that factors in inflation, with no cap-out.

Up for a vote next week

The council could approve spending about $35,000 over the next four months on reserving three beds per night at the House of Charity for Spokane police or fire to refer people in need to during contacts.
The city continues to prepare to launch their own emergency call management services, this time with emergency special budget ordinances to create new positions to support the Spokane United 911 Network.

Up for a vote in two weeks

The council is set to appoint Megan Duvall as the Director of Arts, Culture and Historic Preservation Office, reestablished by Mayor Lisa Brown earlier this year. Duvall is a longtime historic preservation officer.
After budget debates last year, the council voted to fully fund staff only through July 1, and hired a consultant to look at their staffing plan. In two weeks, the council could approve a new staffing plan that could cut legislative assistants from one per council member to one per district, and no longer includes initiative managers at all. Two initiative managers — Nicolette Ocheltree, the housing and homelessness policy initiative manager, and Alex Gibilisco, the Manager of Equity and Inclusion Initiatives — were already notified they would not have jobs by the end of August. The council could also pass a resolution moving funding in their office around to fund salaries for those still on staff through the end of the year.
The council could also pass the extension to the interim ordinance allowing childcare centers to operate in all residential and commercial zones in the city.

NOTE: Council is on summer break next week, and so are we! RANGE staff will be taking a week away from the news, their phones, their laptops and their email accounts to destress.

Agenda here
Wednesday, July 29 at 6 pm
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Finance and Administration Committee

🌶️🫑/5 peppers

At this week’s Finance and Administration Committee, the council will discuss:

Those city council staffing plan changes covered above, plus funding needs that will likely be up for a vote in two weeks.
An ordinance from Council Member Paul Dillon that would create more transparency around staffing increases and reductions, making the firing of staff for any reason besides ethical standards or conduct violations require a majority vote of the city council. Currently, it is under the sole purview of the Council President, who decided to cut Ocheltree and Gibilisco without a public majority vote.
Setting utility rates for 2027 and 2028 (Spoiler: they usually go up.)
An ordinance that would get rid of a city requirement for charitable organizations to get a free “charitable solicitation” license. Because this duplicates state requirements, Spokane could cut this requirement at the city level.

Agenda here
Tuesday, July 28 at 1 pm
Council Chambers
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Housing Authority Board

🌶️🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers

The Housing Authority Board will discuss draft revisions to the Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Plan, which can be reviewed here.

Agenda here
Monday, July 27 at 2:30 pm
Meeting Room at 25 W. Nora Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

No BOCC this week

Spokane County Planning Commission

🌶️/5 peppers

Workshop on 20-year development plan

The commission will host a workshop on a draft of its comprehensive plan that will govern development in Spokane County from the end of this year to 2046. You can learn more about the plan, including its draft chapters, here.

Agenda here
Thursday, July 30 at 9 am
Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Regional Health District Board

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Thursday, July 30 at 12:30 pm
Auditorium, First Floor
1101 West College Avenue, Spokane

Mead School District Board of Directors

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Monday, July 27 at 6 pm
12509 N. Market St. Bldg. D, Mead
Watch via Zoom here.

Central Valley School District Board of Directors

🌶️🫑/5 peppers

A sign of the times

The Central Valley School District Board of Directors are having a discussion on AI use in the district, student screen time, technology’s role in academic intervention and school bus cameras. For parents or students with concerns about AI and/or surveillance tech, this might be a meeting to tune into.

Agenda here
Monday, July 27 at 6 pm
Board Room at 2218 N Molter Rd
Liberty Lake
Watch via Zoom here.

East Valley School District Board of Directors

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

District asking voters to approve replacement tax for capital projects

The board plans to ask voters on November 3 to approve a property tax levy to fund new building projects in the district. It would raise nearly $13.8 million in 2027 and 2028. The measure would reup an existing tax of just less than .1%, meaning taxpayers would not notice a change in this levy.

Agenda here
Tuesday, July 28 at 6 pm
3830 N Sullivan Rd, Bldg 1
Spokane Valley

Spokane School District Board of Directors (special meeting)

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

For & against committees for replacement levy

The board is set to appoint one person each to the “for” and “against” committees that will describe the respective arguments surrounding a ballot initiative to reup an expiring .25% property tax that pays for education expenses the state of Washington does not cover. If it is approved, that means taxpayers in the district would see no change to this part of their property taxes. The replacement would allow the district to bring in $333 million in revenue from 2028 to 2030. The proposed committee members are Carol Wendle, for the “for” committee and Russell Neff for the “against.” The measure will appear on the November 3 ballot.

Agenda here
Wednesday, July 29 at 6 pm
200 N. Bernard, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Valley City Council

🌶️/5 peppers

$3M+ for improvements to Sullivan Rd

The city is set to distribute nearly $3.3 million to the Inland Asphalt Company to preserve and improve the section of Sullivan Road from the Union Pacific Railroad bridge to Kiernan Avenue. The project will build stormwater infrastructure and improve accessibility for disabled people. $1.5 million of the cost will come from a federal grant; the rest will come from local sales tax revenue and stormwater and aquifer protection funding.