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: 

• Join us for Office Hours! This Wednesday, from 2 to 4 pm at Tay Tay’s Cafe. 
• Spokane City Council is set to vote on changes to the affordable housing fund. One of those changes is renaming it to the HEART fund.
• There’s two council committee meetings this week, with some big items up for discussion, like the operation of the new tiny home village in the West Hills neighborhood, an ordinance to stop landlords from using software to do rental price-fixing and an ordinance making it easier for them to fire their own staff. 
• The Mead School District Board of Directors is revising its policy governing guest speakers to allow students to not attend speeches deemed “partisan” or “controversial” and to notify parents of such speakers.

Important meetings this week:

• Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
• Urban Experience Committee
• Finance and Administration Committee
• Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
• Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees
• Bicycle Advisory Board
• Spokane Plan Commission
• Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Legislative Session
• Spokane Airport Board
• Mead School District Board of Directors
• West Valley School District Board of Directors
• Spokane School District Board of Directors
• Spokane Valley City Council 
• Liberty Lake City Council

Office Hours

Dear readers: we love you and want to hang out, so, as we do every so often, we’re making some time and space for that. If you want to join us at our Office Hours session this week, we’ll be holed up at TayTay’s Cafe this Wednesday, October 22 from 2 to 4 pm to talk politics, elections, civics, journalism and really anything else you want to discuss. We hope to see you there! 

Spokane City 

Spokane City Council

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

Looking for revenue

Facing a $13 million budget deficit, the city wants to look at potential revenue sources for the 2026 budget, including possibly increasing property taxes collected. This is the same increase they do almost every year, which is the state-allowed 1% increase of total property tax collected (which doesn’t necessarily mean your bill will go up by 1% — it’s complicated.) They’re setting a date for public hearing on this, so folks can come make their voices heard next week before the property tax is on the council’s November 3 agenda. 

Federal wishlist

Council could approve a resolution setting their federal lobbying priorities for 2025-2026. On the list this year are just four items:

• “Protect civil rights and programs essential to the most vulnerable 
• Improve public safety and access to care 
• Grow the regional economy and strengthen the local workforce 
• Invest in critical infrastructure”

Safe Streets priorities

Council is set to pass a resolution that sets their priorities for how the Safe Streets fund should be spent for 2026-2027 projects. Here’s the breakdown:

• Up to $6,450,000 total can be spent on permanent and adaptive safe streets projects with construction in 2026.
• Up to $2,267,000 of that total can be spent on permanent neighborhood safe streets projects.
• Up to $525,000 is to be used for adaptive safe streets strategies installed in 2026.
• Up to $8,875,000 in Spokane Safe Streets for All funds to be used for safe streets projects in 2027
• No less than $3.8 million on projects for the 27 by 2027 bike network

Have a HEART

After a series of deferrals, the city could finally approve the process of renaming the 1590 Fund to the HEART Fund. The 1590 Fund is made up of dollars collected through a sales tax authorized by the state government through bill 1590, with the revenue intended to be spent on affordable housing projects. The ordinance, which is up for a vote tonight, 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. 

Also tied to the HEART fund is a second ordinance up for a vote that would establish a permit fee deferral program for projects seeking to create affordable housing. Up to $150,000 in permit fees can be deferred for eligible projects (though they still have to be paid eventually) which can reduce up-front costs for developers and incentivize affordable housing construction. There are other programs that qualify developers for permit fee deferrals, but this seems to expand the list and create a new chapter of city code to outline the details. 

Next week’s sneak peek: 

• The council could hold a vote on an emergency ordinance that would make it easier for them to fire their own council staff, getting rid of protections established by then Council President Breean Beggs to ensure council staff had job security and weren’t subject to the political whims of the council. If passed, the ordinance would give the Council President sole authority to hire and fire council staff, except legislative assistants, which answer to their individual council members. 

• Conspicuously disappearing from the agenda is the item to change council meeting days from Monday to some other day. This is being deferred about three months, pushing it out to February 2, after the elections.

Agenda here
Monday, October 20 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, October 23 at 11 am
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall 
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Council Committees

Urban Experience Committee (Spokane city)

🌶️🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers

It’s already well underway if not completely over, but the council had a special meeting of the Urban Experience Committee at 10 am because of the cancellation last week. Here’s what they’re talking about: 

Killing rental market manipulation?

Up for discussion is an ordinance from Council Member Zack Zappone that would ban the use of algorithmic rental pricing tools in Spokane, a form of market manipulation done by landlords to artificially inflate rent prices. 

In 2024, a report from the federal government found that the use of these anticompetitive softwares, which tell landlords in a region how much they can get away with charging by comparing prices, vacancies and rates, cost renters an average of $70 per month. Here in Washington, 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, this could be the latest move in the council’s quest to protect renters in the city. 

Infodump

The committee also was scheduled to get an information report on the city’s progress on a variety of important plans, including its periodic update to the Comprehensive Plan, PlanSpokane 2046 and climate planning. If you like to stay up-to-date on the planning and execution of, well, plans, this might be the meeting to watch. 

Homelessness contracts

Also on the docket for discussion were three key items related to addressing homelessness in the region. The first was a proposal to extend the contracts of existing scatter site operators by three months, supporting 209 beds through December 31, 2025, while the city holds their traditional Request for Proposal process to decide if the sites will stay with the same operators or get new management. 

The second is information on how the city plans to administer a large grant received from the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Encampment Resolution program. Currently, the plan on what to spend the grant money on is as follows:

• $4,525,000 to Catholic Charities of Eastern WA’s Catalyst program for “temporary housing with on-site wraparound services and case management.”

• $1,092,659 to Revive for 35 short-term beds with stabilization support that folks who were contacted through the encampment right-of-way resolution can be referred to

• $942,44 to Revive for 22 permanent housing units with individualized services

• $533,750 to Catholic Charities for 25 permanent housing units at El Estero 

• $575,000 to Waters Meet and Compassionate Addiction Treatment (CAT) for the New Roots Tiny Home Village with on-site case management

• $127,889 to I2 Strategies for outreach and identification of individuals who are eligible to receive support through this program. 

Finally, tied to the Right of Way funding, there is also a request for council to approve CAT as the operator for the new tiny home village. CAT was the only applicant to clear the city’s scoring threshold. 

This agenda item also gives some insight into the future plans for the tiny home village and how it will be run, stating that occupants will be chosen through referrals of folks in temporary housing and engaged in services like emergency shelter and the Stabilization Center. The village will “be a structured, services-oriented environment intended to provide short-term stability for participants transitioning from homelessness toward permanent housing.”

Agenda here
Monday, October 20 at 12 pm
Council Briefing Center in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee

🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers

Rate changes, coming soon?

Every year, the city looks at its fee and cost schedule for services like water, sewer and general facilities, and decides if the rate they’re charging consumers is keeping up with the cost to provide the services. Typically, this results in rates going up slightly,  so that the city isn’t losing money on these services. At today’s PIES Committee, they’ll discuss rate changes for the typical list of services. You can take a look at all those proposed fee changes in the agenda. 

Spokane Falls Rebuild

Spokane Falls Boulevard downtown, between Post and Division Street, is scheduled for a rebuild in tandem with necessary repairs to the structural integrity of the road, and to utility features under the street. The city is studying ways to revitalize this street while it’s under repairs, looking at enhanced pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure, traffic flow enhancements and infrastructure upgrades to improve this section of road. 

At today’s committee meeting, the city will discuss some of the alternative concepts, including a proposal to convert the eastern segment (Washington St. to Division St.) to two-way traffic, and create a shared-use pedestrian path near Riverfront Park.  

Cutting labor protections

We touched on this in the sneak peek for next week section, but council is also set to discuss an emergency ordinance that would make it easier for them to fire their own employees. Currently, city council staff are protected by legislation spearheaded by former council president Breean Beggs, that requires a vote of 5 of the 7 council members to fire staff — an effort to give staff job security amidst changing political whims. 

As the city is staring down a budget crisis, the council is looking at culling their own staff, but they might not have all five votes to do it. So, instead, they’re working on emergency ordinance — which would still need five votes to pass — that would make the hiring and firing of all council staff besides legislative assistants the prerogative of the council president alone. This would significantly streamline the process to fire city council staff, which would be great for the budget, and potentially bad for employees, who would now have to worry every four years if they align with the political goals of a new council president.  

Agenda here
Monday, October 20 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.

MISC City

Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees

🌶️/5 peppers

2026 budget adoption

The Board of Trustees is set to adopt the library’s 2026 budget. If you’re a big fan of the library and you want to know what they’re spending their money on, and whether or not their budget got cut in the face of the city’s budget crisis, this is the meeting to attend. 

Agenda here
Tuesday, October 21 at 4:30 pm
Shadle Park Library
2111 W. Wellesley Ave, Spokane, Washington, 99205
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Bicycle Advisory Board

🌶️/5 peppers

Spokane Falls Rebuild update

Last year, the city commissioned a study into ways it could revitalize Spokane Falls Boulevard, whose infrastructure is old and in need of repair, as it is rebuilt. (See write-up in Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee.) Also, the road was converted to a one-way before Expo-74, in an attempt to improve traffic in downtown Spokane, but city planners are now considering reverting to a two-way model. City engineer Kevin Picanco will give an update on the revitalization to the BAB on Tuesday.

Agenda here
Tuesday, October 21 at 6 pm
City Council Briefing Center
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Spokane, WA 99201 
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane Plan Commission

🌶️/5 peppers

Agenda here 
Wednesday, October 22 at 2 pm
Council Briefing Center 
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Spokane County

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session

🌶️/5 peppers

$6M in TIF reimbursements due for Beacon Hill

The Beacon Hill housing development in Northeast Spokane has completed some of its home, road and services construction — a water booster station and water runoff infrastructure — and the developer is asking for the first installment of reimbursements for its investments. The money would come from tax increment financing, which are essentially tax revenues generated by the improvements to property values generated by the development. The developer, the Beacon Hill TIF, LLC, is asking for $6,057,759.13 for its investment, of a $20 million in total TIF funding to build about 140 housing units. The BOCC will discuss this request but is not set to vote on it.

Agenda here 
Tuesday, October 21 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 appointment

The BOCC is set to appoint Nancy Conley as the Town of Latah representative on the Spokane County Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee.

Agenda here 
Tuesday, October 21 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 Airport Board

🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

2026 budget

There’s no information in the agenda sheet about the next year’s budget, but the airport will presumably have to start incorporating its cleanup of “forever chemicals” into its spending, as mandated by the State Department of Ecology. In 2017, Spokane International Airport discovered per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in a test well on its campus, the same compounds many private well owners on the West Plains have found in their drinking water.

Agenda here.
Thursday, October 23 at 9 am
Airport Event Center
9211 W. McFarlane Road, Spokane, WA 99224 
The meeting is also live streamed here.

School Boards

Mead School District Board of Directors

🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers

‘Controversial issues’ policy re: guest speakers set to be changed

The policy governing student guest speakers currently says students can be exempt from attending addresses if a “large portion of the community” considers the speaker “partisan” or “controversial.” The board is looking to do away with that language, meaning a speaker would only have to be considered partisan or controversial by a small number of people. It’s unclear if there’s a process to determine whether a speaker falls into one of those categories. The revision would also require a school to notify parents if a speaker fell into those categories.

The resolution does not list examples of any kinds of controversy or partisanship, but if we’re reading the tea leaves, this could mean that parents could ask that their children not hear speakers who advance queer rights, an abiding focus of the board.

Agenda here
Monday, October 20 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, October 22 at 6:30 pm
District Conference Center 
8818 E. Grace, Spokane, WA 99212
Watch via Zoom here.

Spokane School District Board of Directors (special meeting)

🌶️/5 peppers

Forming Native education policy

There’s no information in the agenda about any proposed policy, but the board will meet early today for a special meeting to initiate discussions on developing one.

Agenda here 
Wednesday, October 22 at 4:30 pm (special meeting) and 6 pm (regular)
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Other Cities

Spokane Valley City Council

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Tuesday, October 21 at 6 pm
City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.

Liberty Lake City Council

🫑/5 peppers

Agenda here
Tuesday, October 21 at 7 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake, WA 99019
The meeting is also live streamed here.