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 pass a tax on parking lots across the city, with revenue funding street repair.
They are also considering an ordinance to ban landlords and property management companies from using algorithmic price fixing tools to set rental rates.
The Airport Board will approve a contract to do a stormwater impacts study. The Spokane International Airport sits on ecologically sensitive wetlands that are impacted by airport development.
There are so many board and commission vacancies across the city of Spokane! See below for more information on how you can sign up to shape policy.

Important meetings this week:

Get involved

Want to shape your city instead of just reading about it? You can apply to fill a vacant position on one of the city’s boards and commissions. Currently, Spokane is looking for people to sit on the Arts, Plan, Design Review, Human Rights, Transportation and Police Ombuds Commissions. Details on necessary qualifications and how to apply can be found here.

Spokane City

Spokane City Council

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Funding for co-response model

In the consent agenda, there are two contracts that support the co-response models in Spokane. The CARES team of the Spokane Fire Department, which sends mental health professionals to respond to people’s needs if they don’t truly need an emergency response, is getting two new electric vehicles for a total of just over $94,000.

The city is also set to accept a $620,000 grant from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to pay for Mental Health Field Response — the unit formerly called the Behavioral Health Unit, which pairs a mental health professional with a police officer to better address mental health issues in the field.

No more rental price fixing

After a deferral last week, council will have a first read on an ordinance to ban landlords and property management companies from using algorithmic price-fixing software to price gouge tenants and manipulate the market.

A 2024 report from the federal government found that this kind of software can cost renters an average of $70 per month in additional rent expenses. Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown recently filed a lawsuit against one of the software companies, called RealPage, alleging the company and the landlords who used it violated the Consumer Protection Act. If passed in Spokane, this could be the latest move in the council’s quest to protect renters in the city.

The pavement tax

Spokane City Council is set to vote on an ordinance that would start taxing commercial parking lots across the city. The TLDR is that, if passed, consumers would pay a 6% to 12% tax to park in surface parking lots or parking garages while city-managed street parking, student parking and residential parking would all be exempt from the tax. The tax would pay for street repair. For the longer explanation on the tax, how it works and what it could accomplish, check out this piece by RANGE Urbanism Columnist Lauren Pangborn.

One little development though: council is considering an amendment that, if passed at Agenda Review, could push the implementation date of the ordinance from January 1, 2026 to April 2026.

Next week’s sneak peek:

After back-and-forth about the future of Spokane Arts (is it getting absorbed into the city? Is it staying independent?), the Spokane City Council could pass a stop-gap agreement running through December 31, 2027, which would keep Spokane Arts independent and continue paying them to run arts programming with the charter-mandated City Admissions tax.
Next Monday is the night for budget nerds: not only is the council considering a bunch of edits to the current budget, like reallocating ARPA funds, they’re also potentially voting on the official 2026 biennium budget modifications — though it does seem likely this gets deferred.

Agenda here
Monday, November 17 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, November 20 at 11 am
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Utility taxes + rates

There’s not a ton of information in the agenda, but it looks like the PIES Committee is slated to discuss “utility tax and utility rate ordinances,” which could be interesting.

2027 Safe Streets projects

While the resolution that will soon list the Safe Streets projects slated for completion in 2027 by council district is still blank (soon to be filled in after the Transportation Commission’s final review of potential projects), the council will discuss the resolution today.

Maintenance Review

Want to know how arterial street, bike and pedestrian and winter maintenance is going in 2025? Council is getting a review, and potentially a preview of the city’s winter maintenance plans.

Agenda here
Monday, November 17 at 12 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.

Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Tuesday, November 18 at 4:30 pm
Shadle Park Library
2111 W. Wellesley Ave, Spokane, Washington, 99205
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Ombuds Commission

?/5 peppers

Agenda here when available
Tuesday, November 18 at 5:30 pm
City Council Chambers
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Bicycle Advisory Board

🌶️/5 peppers

Outlook on bikes

For the readers out there saying “bikes for sure,” as much as the RANGE Slackbot programmed by our urbanism columnist, this week’s BAB meeting might be for you: they’re scheduled to do a review of all the 2025 bike projects, and lay out their outlook for 2026.

Agenda here
Tuesday, November 18 at 6 pm
City Council Briefing Center
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Public Facilities District

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Wednesday, November 19 at 12:30 pm
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena Board Room
720 W Mallon Ave, Spokane, WA 99201
Virtual attendance here.

Spokane County

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Monday, November 17 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

Board appointments

The BOCC will vote to reappoint

Clyde Haase to the Spokane County Planning Commission District 4 seat and
Max Kuney, County Commissioner Mary Kuney’s husband, as a County representative on the Spokane Airport Board

Agenda here
Monday, November 17 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 Transit Authority Board of Directors

?/5 peppers

Agenda here when available
Thursday, November 20 at 1:30 pm
STA Boardroom
1230 W Boone Avenue, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Airport Board

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Agreement for stormwater capacity study

There’s not a lot of information on this, but the airport board will create an agreement with a contractor to conduct a stormwater capacity study. The Spokane International Airport campus sits on ecologically sensitive wetlands, and any infrastructure development on the campus has to consider how hard, flat surfaces, like parking lots, will affect flooding on the West Plains, a chronic issue that impacts local neighborhoods.

Agenda here.
Thursday, November 20 at 9 am
Airport Event Center
9211 W. McFarlane Road, Spokane, WA 99224
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Valley City Council

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Tuesday, November 18 at 6 pm
City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.

Liberty Lake City Council

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Mayor will present optimistic budget

Liberty Lake Mayor Cris Kaminskas will present her proposed budget for 2026, which projects a reduction in property taxes from .$0.8852 to $0.8571 per $1,000 of property value. Kaminskas notes this is possible because the city’s $8.1 million general fund is healthy.

Agenda here
Tuesday, November 18 at 7 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake, WA 99019
The meeting is also live streamed here.

School Boards

Spokane School District Board of Directors

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Wednesday, November 19 at 4:30 pm (special meeting) and 6 pm (regular meeting)
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Mead School District Board of Directors

🌶️/5 peppers

Agenda here
Monday, November 17 at 6 pm
Union Event Center
12509 N. Market St. Bldg. D, Mead, WA 99021
Watch via Zoom here.

West Valley School District Board of Directors

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Wednesday, November 19 at 6:30 pm
District Conference Center
8818 E. Grace, Spokane, WA 99212
Watch via Zoom here.

Price fixing, parking tax and policy impacts

Get involved

Spokane City