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: 

• You can be the *most informed* voter this election! There are three opportunities this week to learn about the local elections and the candidates on your ballots: a livestream on Twitch with Luke and Erin tomorrow at 5 pm, Gonzaga University’s Climate Change forum on Wednesday and Spotlight at Central: a Spokane City Council candidate forum hosted by RANGE + other local journos.

• Spokane County is looking to negotiate a new contract with the Virginia-based health care provider Mediko Correctional Healthcare to give health care for people incarcerated in the Spokane County Jail after its previous provider terminated its contract.

• Spokane City Council is holding a Town Hall-style meeting, this time at the West Central Community Center in District 3.

Important meetings this week:

• Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
• Community, Housing and Human Services Board
• Spokane Human Rights Commission
• Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Legislative Session
• Spokane County Planning Commission
• Spokane Valley City Council
• Liberty Lake City Council (special meeting) 

Live at Five

Tomorrow at 5 pm, RANGE’s Luke and Erin will be going live on Twitch (and potentially also Youtube?) to stream. We’re going to start a Baldur’s Gate 3 campaign and chat about local news like the upcoming election, the state of local media and a preview of a big story from Erin coming out soon. Do you have questions you want us to answer on live? Send them over to erin@rangemedia.co, and otherwise, stay tuned for an email tomorrow on how you can join us online for some casual digital community!

Spotlight at Central Candidate Forum

With election season comes candidate forum season! It’s got less pepper and more press, but this week, RANGE will be hosting our second Spokane City Council Candidate Forum in partnership with the Spokane Public Library on Thursday from 6 to 8 pm at the Central Library. 

This free event will be hosted by Eliza Billingham of Spokane Public Radio, Erin Sellers of RANGE Media and KYRS, Samantha Wohlfeil of The Inlander and Clarinne Kirk of the Gonzaga Bulletin, who will dive in to the policies and plans of the people running to represent you on the Spokane City Council. In addition to normal debate questions, candidates will get to ask their opponents a question, and there will be a rapid-fire round of questions from the moderators for each candidate. All six candidates have confirmed their attendance.

Spokane climate change candidate forum

The Gonzaga University Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment will question candidates for local public office on their positions on climate change Wednesday at 6 pm in the Globe Room. If you want to attend, you can RSVP here. Here’s who you’ll see — and won’t see:

Attending: 

• Spokane City Council candidates Sarah Dixit, Kate Telis, Christopher Savage and Zack Zappone
• Spokane Valley City Council Candidates Mike Kelly and Kristopher Pockell

Not attending:

• Spokane City Council candidates Alejandro Barrientos and Jonathan Bingle
• Spokane Valley City Council candidates Ben Wick, Pam Haley, Catherine Nelson, Brad Hohn and Laura Padden

Spokane City 

Spokane City Council

🌶️🫑/5 peppers

Town Hall Time!

Council is coming to District 3 for a Town Hall-style meeting. It’ll be the same time as usual, 6 pm, but will happen at the West Central Community Center in the gymnasium instead of council chambers. As with the usual town halls, they’ll take questions from community members — with priority for District 3 residents. They’ll also have staff on site representing both the Parks Department and the Spokane Public School District to talk about the joint ballot measure on November ballots. 

Next week’s sneak peek:

• Interesting contracts in the consent agenda for next week include a $200,000 contract for the design of the Pacific Avenue Greenway and a $3.4 million subcontract with Spokane County to support eviction prevention services within Spokane City limits for 2026 through 2028.

• Council could approve over $100,000 in funding from the West Quadrant Tax Increment Financing District to be spent on reimbursing local developer and conservative mega donor Larry Stone for fixing the sidewalk, landscaping and street lights outside of a building on Monroe Street that he is renovating. 

• After a series of deferrals, the city could actually start the process of renaming the 1590 fund to the HEART Fund. The ordinance would also allow the city to use 10% of the revenue collected from the tax that fuels this fund on administrative fees from projects — up from 2.5% before.

• Council could hold a first read on an ordinance to change the meeting days from Monday to something else. What that something else could be is still up in the air; the agenda item still has a blank in place for the replacement day.

Agenda here
Monday, September 29 at 6 pm
West Central Community Center  
1603 N Belt St. Room: Gymnasium 
The meeting is also live streamed here. 

Spokane City Council Study Sessions

Agenda here when available.
Thursday, October 2 at 11 am
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall 
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here.

MISC City

Community, Housing, and Human Services Board

Agenda here when available
Wednesday, October 1 at 4 pm
City Council Briefing Chambers
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
Virtual attendance link included on their agenda when available.

Spokane Human Rights Commission

Agenda here when available.
Thursday, October 2 at 5:30 pm 
Council Briefing Center in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201  

Spokane County

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here 
Tuesday, September 30 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

Potential medical service provider change for jail

Spokane County is looking to negotiate a contract with Mediko Correctional Healthcare, a Virginia-based health care provider, to provide services in the county jail. The BOCC is set to approve the negotiations at Tuesday’s meeting. The county’s previous provider NaphCare/Everhealth abruptly terminated its contract in June.

Agenda here 
Tuesday, September 30 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 County Planning Commission

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Developing Division Street

The Spokane Transit Authority will present on the future of development on Division Street, the wide, fast and dangerous thoroughfarethoroughfare that bisects Spokane from north to south. There’s very little detail in the agenda on this presentation, but the title includes the phrase “transit-oriented,” meaning strengthened bus service and other measures on the route. In July, transit activists and state-level transportation officials walked Division Street to observe how proposed public transit improvements might make the street safer for pedestrians. Read our urbanism columnist Lauren Pangborn’s piece on that walk here.

Agenda here
Thursday, October 2 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.

Other Cities

Spokane Valley City Council

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Public comment on proposed ice arena

The Innovia Foundation is working with an unnamed “benefactor” to propose a new ice arena in Spokane Valley. It would be built by the foundation but would require infrastructure, including driveways and sewer installations that would cost the city itself about $3.03 million.

Agenda here
Tuesday, September 30 at 6 pm
City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.

Liberty Lake City Council (special meeting)

🌶️🫑/5 peppers

Council may create governance manual

The special meeting is set to discuss and review a new proposed governance manual for the city council. The document would set rules for the conduct of the council members when conducting city business, including how regular city council meetings are administered.

Agenda here
Tuesday, September 30 at 6 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake, WA 99019The meeting is also live streamed here.