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 City Council could sign a 50-year lease with the American Indian Community Center to give the AICC a section of High Bridge Park at the rate of $1 a year for 50 years.
- Spokane City Council is also set to hold a first reading on a policy that would move council meetings from their traditional Monday night slot to Wednesday evenings.
- Spokane’s Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability (PIES) Committee will discuss giving $100,000 to the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition to use on direct, emergency aid to immigrant communities in Spokane.
- PIES is also discussing changes to Safe Streets funding and getting an update on the effectiveness of removing parking minimums from building construction requirements.
- At a joint meeting between local governments on Thursday, officials at Spokane Airports will publicly discuss their cleanup of the forever chemicals contamination on the West Plains.
- The Spokane Valley City Council is set to vote on a resolution that would ban local vendors from selling kratom, a stimulant that some medical experts say can be addictive and harmful.
Important meetings this week:
- Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
- Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
- Spokane Plan Commission
- Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Legislative Session
- Spokane Regional Transportation Council
- Spokane Airport Board (committee meeting)
- Mead School District Board of Directors
- Central Valley School District Board of Directors
- Spokane Valley City Council
Spokane City Council
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
SCRAPS board
Boards and committee appointments are usually pretty low drama, but we did notice something interesting slated for this week: Spokane is appointing people to the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection (SCRAPS) Advisory Board.
For the last two years, following a wave of euthanizations and a lawsuit, local government officials from municipalities that contract with SCRAPS — like Spokane city and Spokane Valley — have looked for accountability from the organization. Last year, Council Member Michael Cathcart told us the advisory board was “worthless”; it rarely met, posted no information and wasn’t able to exercise any authority over SCRAPS.
Director of Code Enforcement Luis Garcia and Director of Parks and Recreation Garrett Jones formerly represented Spokane on the advisory board, and said they’d made recommendations to SCRAPS for increased transparency, though at the time those recommendations seemed to mostly go ignored.
Tonight, council could reappoint Garcia to the advisory board, but could also appoint Cathcart, an animal lover who has spearheaded many of the calls for SCRAPS reform to protect its furry charges.
911 Software
As part of the new separation agreement with Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, Spokane city is continuing the process to stand up their own public-safety answering point (PSAP) for emergency calls. Tonight, they could pass a nearly $2 million, five-year contract with Carbyne, Inc — paid for presumably with Spokane’s portion of the excise tax that funds SREC — to support 911 and 311 calls. If passed, the contract would expire in May of 2031.
Rules vote deferred
The council is moving to defer a vote on their rules of operation for the year to February 23, nearly two months into 2026. It seems likely that this is because of a proposal floated during a committee meeting by freshman Council Member Kate Telis to drastically limit public testimony time.
The pitch Telis made was to give people three minutes total to comment on all legislative items up for a vote during a single meeting, rather than the current system, which gives people three minutes on each item. For context, tonight they’re voting on eight legislative agenda items, which would mean if you had strong feelings about all eight, you’d have about 23 seconds to spend on each item. This seems to have some support from other council members, like Zack Zappone, who pointed out that most people who sign up to testify on legislative items only sign up for one.
Other ideas tossed around during the discussion included moving Open Forum back to the beginning of meetings and holding additional Open Forums/Town Hall meetings monthly out in community spaces.
Good neighbors
Up for a vote is a proposal to modify the city’s good neighbor agreements, which are required when new city-owned or city-sponsored service facilities start operations at a new site.
The modification to the existing agreements would add new members to a communication team, including a property owner from the area where an emergency shelter or transitional housing facility will be located and the council chair or other designated representative from that area’s neighborhood council. The other big change is for the city to prioritize removing unauthorized encampments that spring up near facilities or shelters that have existing good neighbor agreements.
High Bridge Park lease
The council will vote to approve leasing a portion of High Bridge Park to the American Indian Community Center (AICC) for 50 years at a rate of just $1 a year. The lease will give the AICC access to build and operate a new community center on the park land, which they’ll have exclusive control over. The lease also requires AICC to build some public improvements on the land, including a public bathroom, parking and a playground. This is the next step in the AICC’s multi-year process of seeking a permanent home for their center, placing it in a spot where tribal members used to gather to fish and trade.
First-reads: height limits and council day changes
Two first-reads on the list for tonight caught our eye. In March 2025, the council passed an interim zoning ordinance getting rid of height limits downtown and allowing for really tall buildings downtown. They passed a six-month extension to that interim ordinance, and tonight, they’re continuing the process to pass another six-month extension, that would keep the height limits off until September 2026. It’s unclear if any developers have taken advantage of this yet.
The other interesting proposal is a first reading on an ordinance to change the meeting days of the Spokane City Council. What’s currently on the table would move council meetings to Wednesday evenings, Agenda Review to the Tuesday prior at 11 am and committee meetings to Tuesday afternoons, effective June 1, 2026. The day change proposal is in spite of public survey results, where 60.5% of respondents to the council-published survey wanted the meetings to stay on Mondays.
Admittedly, the sample size for the survey was small at just 256, but not as small as the sample size who will ultimately make the decision — the seven council members.
Agenda here
Monday, February 9 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, May 16 at 11 am
Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
How effective was ditching parking minimums?
Well, there’s no additional info in the agenda, but we do know that city administration officials will be giving an update to council on “The effectiveness of the elimination of parking minimums,” so today we could find out!
Emergency aid for immigrants
Up for discussion at today’s committee meeting is an agreement that could provide the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition (SIRC) with $100,000 to be distributed by SIRC for emergency aid and assistance to immigrant communities in Spokane. The funding was budgeted for in the 2026 budget, the agenda sheet says, and the agreement will run through the end of the year.
SIRC is made up of a coalition of local organizations providing services to immigrant and refugee communities. The members are Nuestras Raices Centro Comunitario, Mujeres In Action, Manzanita House, Refugee and Immigrant Connections Spokane, Fuse Washington, Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, Creole Resources, Muslims for Collective Action and Asians for Collective Liberation.
In the letter of intent to the city, SIRC states the funding will be used to:
- Distribute funds for aid and emergency assistance, helping people “meet basic needs like housing, healthcare, costs for deportation defense and utilities and gain documentation through the immigration system.”
- Advocate for local and statewide policies to support immigrant communities, like social services and protections from deportation.
- Deploy a Rapid Response team in collaboration with WA Immigrant Solidarity Network (WAISN) to support undocumented immigrants at the highest risk of deportation.
- Focus aid distribution to immigrant families that are the most vulnerable: folks who are undocumented and/or low-income, have limited technology and transportation access or limited fluency in English.
Safe Streets for All funding update
If you were on Reddit posting about how to avoid paying tickets generated by the automated red light or speed cameras in Spokane, we see you. Dollars generated from those tickets seed the Safe Streets for All Fund, which pays for traffic calming measures in the city like stop signs, speed tables and adaptive design measures.
A new ordinance up for discussion today would further delineate what exactly the dollars will fund:
- 21% on permanent Safe Streets projects
- 10% on strategic network initiatives, including but not limited to bike and sidewalk infrastructure
- 10% on non-permanent streets projects, like quick builds, crosswalks, speed trailers, asphalt art or painted bump outs.
- 2% on maintenance for existing projects
- 57% on contractual, administrative and personnel costs
- The rest can be spent on other safe streets projects and camera maintenance.
The new ordinance would also require that the funds be split as equally between council districts as possible, and forbid the use of Safe Streets dollars on installing improvements that would otherwise be required to be installed by a developer or property owner.
So next time you speed or run a red light, consider not taking Reddit’s advice on how to avoid accountability for your risky driving, and instead contribute to making Spokane safer!
Agenda here
Monday, February 9 at 12 pm
Council Chambers
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Plan Commission
🫑/5 peppers
Land Use Strategy
For our public planning nerds, consider checking out this week’s Plan Commission meeting, where they’re holding a workshop on PlanSpokane 2046’s Land Use Strategy.
Agenda here
Wednesday, February 11 at 2 pm
Council Briefing Center
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
City, County, airport and S3R3 to meet
The governments that own Spokane Airports are hosting a meeting to hear updates from airport officials and the leader of the public development authority S3R3 on construction projects and the cleanup of forever chemicals contamination of the West Plains aquifers. It will be a rare window at which the airport itself will address and acknowledge the contamination. The meeting will be held February 12 at 10 am in the Auditorium of the Spokane Regional Health District at 1101 W College Ave. You can attend it virtually here.
Half a million in state funds to rehabilitate courthouse exterior
Spokane County has received a $488,327 grant from the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation to rehabilitate the masonry on the exterior of the courthouse, which is officially a historic building.
$4M for new maintenance facility for LL and MeadowWood golf courses
The Parks, Recreation and Golf Department is asking the BOCC to approve $4 million to build a new 4,600-square-foot maintenance facility for the Liberty Lake and MeadowWood golf course. The department cites a number of deficiency and compliance concerns with the current maintenance building, including inadequate fuel storage and disability access.
$3.25M in new vehicle purchases
The Public Works Department is asking the BOC to buy 23 new vehicles for various programs, They include:
- 16 Ford trucks
- 2 trucks for herbicide
- 3 Western Star dump trucks
- 1 paint striper
- 1 new lube service truck
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 10 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
$605K for improvements to Hastings Rd.
The county will likely open bids to build channels, new curbs and new sidewalks on the section of Hastings Road from Wall Street to Graves Road.
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 10 at 2 pm
Commissioners’ Hearing Room
1026 W. Broadway Ave, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Regional Transportation Council
🌶️/5 peppers
Agenda here
Thursday, February 12 at 1 pm
21 W Riverside Ave, Suite 504, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Spokane Airport Board (committee meeting)
🌶️/5 peppers
Committees considering contracts, purchases
The engineering committee is reviewing construction contracts to expand parking at the airport, and the finance committee is considering the purchase of body-worn cameras for airport police.
Agenda here.
Wednesday, February 11 at 9 am
9211 W. McFarlane Road, Spokane
The meeting is also live streamed here.
Mead School District Board of Directors
🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Work session
The Mead School District board meeting is just a work session this week, which means no public comment and no details in the agenda. We did notice that they’re going to be discussing revising their Nondiscrimination Policy. Because there’s no details in this agenda, it’s unclear what revisions are on the table, but because of Mead’s history (see here, here, here and here) we’ll be paying attention.
Agenda here
Monday, February 9 at 6 pm
12509 N. Market St. Bldg. D, Mead
Watch via Zoom here.
Central Valley School District Board of Directors
🫑/5 peppers
Connect 2035 to the schools
As Spokane Transit Authority moves into their new ten-year plan, Connect 2035, Chief Operations Officer Brandon Rapez-Betty will present to the CVSD board this week on how the past 10-year plan impacted the district community and what they can expect for the next decade.
Agenda here
Monday, February 9 at 6 pm
Board Room at 2218 N Molter Rd
Liberty Lake
Watch via Zoom here.
Spokane Valley City Council
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Potential kratom ban in the works
The city council will consider banning local businesses from selling kratom, a stimulant that some medical organizations say can be addictive and harmful if used irresponsibly. Businesses that violate the proposed ban would have to pay a $250 fine on the first violation and $1,000 fines for subsequent violations.
The proposal comes at a time when the Washington legislature is considering banning kratom sales to people under 21 years old and levying a 95% tax on the drug. The Spokane City Council has also discussed banning kratom, although that policy has been deferred out a few months.
Agenda here
Tuesday, February 10 at 6 pm
10210 E Sprague Ave, Spokane Valley
Virtual attendance here.
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