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 finally make a decision on what conditions need to be met to pass emergency ordinances.
- A development moratorium in Latah Valley and more renter protections could be coming down the pipeline.
- Students in CVSD may be able to earn a college degree at their high school if the school board votes to approve the Associate of Arts Degree in the High School program.
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 Valley City Council
- Liberty Lake City Council
- Spokane Plan Commission
- Central Valley School District Board of Directors
- Mead School District Board of Directors
- Spokane School District Board of Directors
- Spokane Regional Transportation Council
Spokane City Council
🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Printer purchases could promote paperless proposal
Earlier this year, Council Member Michael Cathcart proposed that the city vote to transition towards a fully paperless system by 2027. That proposal, which Cathcart said was intended as both a cost savings mechanism and a move towards environmental stewardship, has thus far not moved out of committee discussions, but a $300,000 contract for copier and printer purchases in today’s consent agenda could bring renewed attention to the original ordinance idea. After all, with the city in a budget deficit, $300,000 on printing and copying seems like a large (and potentially preventable) expense.
Emergency ordinance, again
After a first read and a deferral, it’s looking like tonight will be the night the city council actually votes on Cathcart’s ordinance to codify exactly what constitutes an emergency. We’ve done a few write-ups on what exactly the ordinance would do, but with three potential amendments on the table, that could be changing slightly. In the original text, a non-budget emergency ordinance could only be adopted if it met all of the following criteria:
- There is evidence of an imminent threat that could result in significant harm to the public health, safety or welfare of the citizens of Spokane
- The situation is sudden, unexpected and requires immediate action to prevent or mitigate the threat
- The normal course of legislative procedures of the city council cannot address the threat without causing or exacerbating harm to the community
- A citizens’ referendum delaying the effective date of the ordinance will be detrimental to the public health, safety or welfare.
Council Member Paul Dillon submitted an amendment that would change the requirements from meeting all of the above requirements to meeting just one of the four stipulations. In response to that amendment and — according to him — as a show of collaboration, Cathcart submitted the second amendment, which would state an emergency ordinance could only be adopted when “the ordinance details why the potential for a citizens’ referendum repealing the council action will be detrimental to public health, safety, or welfare,” and it includes details on how it meets one of the other original criteria pieces. Finally, Cathcart submitted a third amendment that includes two tiny changes that would edit the wording on a heading in the ordinance, and change a phrase from Latin to English.
This ordinance will likely be the most debated thing on tonight’s agenda. Of course, some of the debate will happen during the briefing session around the amendments, but council seems to be split on how they might vote on this one. Council Member Zack Zappone had proposed at an earlier briefing session to defer the ordinance indefinitely, effectively killing it. That got outvoted, but could be an indicator for whether or not this will pass tonight. Cathcart told RANGE it will also likely depend on what, if any, amendments get passed at the briefing session. We’ve also heard rumblings that even if the ordinance gets passed, it could be Mayor Lisa Brown’s first veto of her term. Cathcart said Brown had not discussed any potential objections to the ordinance with him.
Bye, bye boards
Council will do a first read of an ordinance to get rid of some boards that have no active members or staff assigned to them. Some of those boards, like the Construction Review Board and Board of Boiler Examiners, have already had any duties they may have originally intended to perform assigned to the Hearing Examiner. According to the agenda sheet, Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board, Cable Advisory Board, and Regional Cable Advisory Boards have been inactive for many years.
The U-Help Advisory Board’s duties have been taken over by SNAP, and the board with potentially the biggest name recognition — Opioid Abatement Council — is no longer needed because the county has formed its own Opioid Abatement Council.
Agenda here
Monday, May 6 at 6 pm
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane City Council Study Sessions
Agenda here when available.
Thursday, May 9 at 11 am
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Public Safety & Community Health Committee
🌶️🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Update on overdoses
In accordance with the request built into the recent resolution calling for accurate and up-to-date data sharing from city and county agencies, the Public Safety & Community Health Committee will receive the most recent slate of data from the Spokane Fire Department (SFD) and Spokane Police Department (SPD). Data from SFD has only gotten more detailed in the months since we originally published on the lack of data availability.
April overdose data as submitted by SFD.
More moratorium?
In March of last year, a moratorium that prevented development in Latah Valley came to an end, leaving the area open to proposals by developers for more construction in the area. At the time, residents shared fears that the end of the moratorium would create increased safety risks for their area, which has seen recent wildfire evacuations and little infrastructure to support those quick emergency evacuations.
Dillon and Council Member Lili Navarrete are proposing an immediate one-year moratorium on subdivision development on unplatted property in the Latah/Hangman and Grandview/Thorpe Neighborhoods due to “a significant increase in residential development and an inadequate availability of fire protections resources.” If it ultimately goes to legislative session and passes, the ordinance will also require the city to do significant planning around wildfire safety and emergency egress and ingress measures in the neighborhood (although the funding and timeline for this has yet to be identified.)
With frequent council conversations about the push/pull between the need for more housing and the need for better infrastructure, we anticipate this ordinance could be quite controversial. It’s slated for 20 minutes of discussion today and we’re curious how conversations around the moratorium will shape the proposal, which can be read in full starting on page 93 of the agenda.
Hot new protections for renters
City council could continue the trend of creating protections for renters with a new ordinance designed to protect folks’ safety during heat waves. We’ve heard horror stories about landlords refusing to allow tenants to install portable air conditioning devices or setting the building thermostats high in an effort to save money, to the detriment of tenants’ health.
The ordinance, sponsored by Council President Betsy Wilkerson and Council Member Kitty Klitzke, would codify renters’ rights to install the portable cooling device of their choice, as long as it doesn’t violate city building code, damage the premises or require an amount of amperage that would damage the building’s electrical circuits.
The ordinance also includes an anti-retaliation clause that would prevent landlords or property managers from intimidating or punishing people for “engaging in activities designed to make other persons aware of, or encouraging such other persons to exercise rights granted or protected by the fair housing laws, or engaging in political speech or political organizing.”
After all the pushback on the last ordinance that increased regulation on landlords, we anticipate this one could also see similar debate, but for now, it’s just in committee and could still see significant change before it appears on a legislative agenda for public comment.
Agenda here
Monday, May 6 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.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Real Time Crime with AI
The Spokane County Sheriff’s Department will be asking the county commissioners to review and approve the purchase of a new software system that is supposed to increase efficiencies for the department and save thousands of dollars in man hours in the future. The software is called Peregrine and uses artificial intelligence to help law enforcement access and use data easier. The software would also bring together the different databases officers need to use, create automated reports and can even set up special public-facing data reports and dashboards, which could be great if it actually results in more data transparency from county agencies.
The price quote page is a little unclear with the different pricing options, but it says if the department pays $425,000 in the first year, the second year would cost $45,187 and the third year would cost $217,593. The agenda sheet states that the department would pay for it with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, though those must be spent by the end of this year.
Agenda here
Tuesday, May 7 at 9 am
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Legislative Session
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Tuesday, May 7 at 2 pm
Public Works Building Lower Level, Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane, WA 99260
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Valley City Council
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Tuesday, May 7 at 6 pm
City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.
Liberty Lake City Council
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Last look at library funding
We covered the first read of this policy, which would change how the Liberty Lake Library is funded, back in April. Now, it’s up for a final read and a vote at this week’s council meeting. Instead of continuing to use a set percentage of property tax — a policy some of the more conservative members of the council took issue with back in the fall of 2023 — the council will vote on whether or not to “appropriate funds annually for the operation and maintenance of the Liberty Lake Public Library.” This would put more power in the hands of the council, as opposed to the previous policy, which guaranteed a set percentage of taxpayer dollars going to the library each year.
Agenda here
Tuesday, May 7 at 7 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake, WA 99019
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Plan Commission
🌶️/5 peppers
Draft South Logan TOD Plan ready for review
The Plan Commission is set to have a workshop on the South Logan Transit-Oriented Development Plan on Wednesday. This plan will change the Spokane Municipal Code specifically for that area in order to shape the neighborhood for years to come and is meant to increase the number of housing units and ease public transportation. You can see the draft starting on page 7 here, but the biggest changes we noticed include increasing some building height standards, reducing open space requirements for specific property types, limiting where drive-thru businesses can go and removing some minimum parking standards.
This proposal will continue being revised as the community and Plan Commission give their feedback and will be presented again on May 22 and June 12, with a public hearing possibly on June 2.
Agenda here
Wednesday, May 8 at 2 pm
Council Briefing Center
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Central Valley School District Board of Directors
🌶️/5 peppers
Get an AA degree in high school
Students in CVSD may be able to earn a college degree at their high school as soon as next year if the school board votes to approve the Associate of Arts Degree in the High School program. According to the board agenda, the program differs from Running Start because the students wouldn’t need to leave their schools to go to local colleges and the school would retain the student.
The program is in partnership with Eastern Washington University and Community Colleges of Spokane and provides automatic enrollment into the state’s four-year colleges with no additional tuition costs. The students would also be taking real college classes. If the board approves the program, the first phase of the program will be available to next year’s freshman class at University High School and phase two would launch at Central Valley High School and Ridgeline High School for the 2025-26 school year.
Agenda here
Monday, May 6 at 6:30 pm
Learning and Teaching Center (district office)
Board Room at 2218 N Molter Rd, Liberty Lake
Watch via Zoom here.
Mead School District Board of Directors
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Monday, May 6 at 6 pm
Union Event Center
12509 N. Market St. Bldg. D, Mead, WA 99021
Watch via Zoom here.
Spokane School District Board of Directors
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Wednesday, May 8 at 6 pm
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Regional Transportation Council
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Time to get into transportation?
If you’ve been seeing our recent coverage of transportation issues and thinking, “wow, I should get involved in transportation advocacy in the county!” you could start at SRTC this week, where they’ll be doing a review of their Guiding Principles, an update on their Metropolitan Transportation plan and reviewing a draft of a new guiding principle intended to increase equity. Of course, there’s a lot of other interesting, important things on the agenda, but it’s a great chance to get a sense of the foundation for the council and their aims for transportation in the region.
Agenda here
Thursday, May 9 at 1 pm
Spokane Regional Transportation Office
421 W Riverside Ave, Suite 504, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.Editor’s note: a previous edition stated the development moratorium ended in September of 2023, but it actually ended six months earlier in March 2023.
See something you want to speak up about?
We have a handy guide on the
do’s and don’ts of civic engagement in Spokane city.
