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’s infrastructure (PIES) Committee is discussing standing up an actual Housing Navigation Center, and is proposing Empire Health Foundation and Revive Counseling as the new operator and service provider.
- Is Spokane without an official police chief? According to old Lisa Brown tweets, the answer is yes, as interim chief Justin Lundgren has overstayed his 180 day contract. Brown’s administration is seeking to remedy that in the PIES Committee.
- Spokane Valley is prepped and ready to start enforcing fines for homeless people camping in the city after the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision.
- Meet candidates for local public office (including state representatives) at a candidate forum on Thursday.
Important meetings this week:
- Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
- Public Infrastructure, Environment and Sustainability Committee (Spokane city)
- Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Legislative Session
- Spokane Valley City Council
- Liberty Lake City Council
- Spokane Library Board of Trustees
- Spokane Airport Board
Candidate Forum
Mujeres in Action, Health Equity Circle at Washington State University’s College of Medicine and Asians for Collective Liberation are hosting a candidate forum for the community to meet and engage with candidates who are running for public office in the upcoming August election. Candidates from four different races were invited, and Natasha Hill, Tony Kiepe, Al Merkel, Miguel Valencia, Molly Marshall and Marcus Riccelli have confirmed they’ll be there. Attendees will have an opportunity to learn more about the candidates’ platform and pose questions via this link. The event is free to attend and open to the public, with interpretation services available upon request.
Thursday, July 18 at from 5:30 to 7 pm
WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
668 N Riverpoint Blvd., Spokane, WA 99202
Spokane City Council
🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
Additional funding for in-the-field mental health services
Spokane Police Department’s Behavioral Health Unit (BHU), which pairs an SPD officer with a mental health professional from Frontier Behavioral Health, is slated to receive nearly $450,000 in additional funding via a grant from Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs (WASPC). WASPC originally awarded the SPD $1,386,166 to continue the program, and this additional funding is an amendment to the grant. It will be used to backfill funding for two full-time SPD officers in the BHU from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
Movement on affordable housing
Late last month, the council used Finance and Administration Committee time to discuss sending a letter drafted by Council Member Michael Cathcart to Gov. Jay Inslee. The letter would have requested the governor expedite the rulemaking process on a recently passed house bill that allows city governments to pass resolutions establishing a sales and use tax deferral for developers who are converting commercial buildings into affordable housing. The council was scheduled to vote on approving and signing the letter tonight. However, it looks like Inslee has already moved on expediting the process, because Council Member Kitty Klitzke filed an amendment replacing the original letter with a new one thanking members of the Washington Department of Revenue for speeding up the process which, according to Klitzke’s letter draft, is scheduled to be completed by the end of summer. If the council moves to pass a tax credit for developers that convert buildings, as they’ve expressed interest in doing, and developers take advantage of it, this could be a major win for affordable housing in downtown Spokane.
The name is bonds. Airport bonds.
The Spokane Airport wants the county to sell bonds for it, to make money for facility improvements. Per the airport’s operating agreement, if the airport wants to issue and sell bonds to gain revenue for projects, that has to be authorized with a joint resolution from both the Spokane City Council, the Airport Board and the Board of County Commissioners. This week, both bodies are scheduled to pass their versions of the joint resolution, which will allow the county to move forward with issuing bonds for the airport. The amount of bonds issued is not to exceed $150 million.
Agenda here
Monday, July 15 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, July 18 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 (Spokane city)
🌶️🌶️🌶️🫑/5 peppers
A homeless navigation center at long last?
Though the Trent Shelter has been called a navigation center in the past, many service providers have called that a designation in title only. As part of her plan to decommission the Trent Shelter, Mayor Lisa Brown recently put out a request for proposals (RFP) calling for an operator and a service provider who would jointly run a new Housing Navigation Center (HNC). The goal of the HNC would be to serve as a first point of contact for people experiencing homelessness that can effectively refer them into various emergency shelters across the city. This would get Spokane closer to a scattered site model, which has gained popularity with city officials. The HNC would also provide 30 continuous-stay shelter beds for individuals/couples actively seeking longer-stay shelter and permanent housing options, and surge capacity for extreme weather events. The RFP, which was published on June 5, did not make clear a location for the physical HNC.
The CHHS board has voted to approve Empire Health Foundation as the operator for the HNC, and Revive Counseling as the service provider at a total of $3.85 million for a one-year period, with administrative costs capped at 15%. The city council has to approve this recommendation to make it official, but they will first be discussing it at today’s committee meeting. The city has struggled with RFP processes, and with providing effective homelessness services, so we are looking forward to an update and discussion on how the city plans to move forward.
Interim inefficiencies
Last year, a small bit of administrative chaos ensued when interim City Attorney Lynden Smithson overstayed his 180-day interim contract with no official appointment, leaving some, like now-mayor Brown, to wonder: did we even have a city attorney?
Well, as of June 28, the city may not have actually had a police chief, as interim Police Chief Justin Lundgren’s interim 180-day appointment signed on December 31 had expired. A day later, interim Chief Innovation Officer Michael Sloon’s appointment also expired, as did interim Director of Spokane Parks and Recreation Director Jason Conley’s, leaving the city without a confirmed CIO and Parks and Rec director.
At least Lundgren’s official permanent replacement has been found, but in order to remedy the same issue she criticized then-mayor Nadine Woodward for, Brown’s office has submitted requests for the council to extend the expired interim appointments for an additional 90 days each. These appointments can’t actually be adopted at committee, but it is likely they are expedited and will appear on an evening legislative session agenda ASAP.
Agenda here
Monday, July 15 at 1:15 p.m.
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.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
$2M for laptops?
The Spokane County Information Technology Department is asking for $2 million to buy better laptops for county employees. The upgrade is from consumer Lenovo laptops to business laptops, which feature improved “durability, longevity, security, mobility and longer active periods,” according to a Powerpoint presentation to be delivered at the briefing.
$2.3M affordable housing write-offs
The county’s Housing and Community Development Department is asking the BOCC to eliminate nearly $2.3 million of debt owed by affordable housing providers, saying several converging factors are making it extremely difficult for the debtors to pay what they owe. According to the agenda sheet for this proposal, providers have been “operating at a loss for the past several years” because of “skyrocketing insurance rates, non-payment of rent, and increased operating expenses.” The request for forgiveness is designed to continue providing housing without any interruption. The housing providers listed as needing the forgiveness are Aspen Grove, Highland Village 1 and Rockwell Apartments. Aspen Grove and Highland Village are requesting 0% interest and to the reduction of payment amounts by half until their debt is paid off. Rockwell is asking for its entire $2,287,675.63 loan balance to be forgiven. Its original loan was $1,649,692.
Board of Spokane County Commissioners Legislative Session
🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Share your thoughts on the county’s Comprehensive Plan
The Comprehensive Plan — the county’s long-term vision of how it wants to develop — is due to be in place in 2026 and it is slowly developing. On Tuesday, the BOCC will vote whether to set July 23 as the date to consider factual changes submitted by the Building & Planning Department to the Planning Commission. Responding to changes in the Growth Management Act, the county is expanding public participation in the Comprehensive Plan. This hearing is one of many opportunities for the public to show up and be heard.
Extended school zone proposed after student hit
The BOCC will vote to set a public hearing, likely for August 13, to extend the existing school zone on Freya Street for Meadow Ridge Elementary School north down Day Mountain Spokane Road to 350 feet past Sycamore Street. The hearing is in response to a student being hit by a car in a crosswalk on that road. Designating that area a school zone would reduce the speed limit to 20 miles per hour.
Traffic safety has gained increasing traction as a central issue in Spokane County in recent months, as activists have mobilized to encourage lawmakers to address skyrocketing deaths of pedestrians hit by cars. Spokane city recently passed the Janet Mann Traffic Safety Now! resolution, which will allow it to deploy traffic safety measures, like physical barriers that slow traffic, more quickly.
Wildfire fuel reduction for 60 acres
The BOCC will vote whether to sign an agreement with the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to thin vegetation on several parcels of land totalling nearly 60 acres near the Elk Transfer Station to reduce the risk of wildfire. DNR has access to the funding for the fire fuels reduction work provided through the Washington Climate Commitment Act, though it’s not clear from the documents associated with the project exactly how much it will cost.
$4.5M for Four Lake interchange
The Public Works Department has secured a $4.5 million grant from Washington Department of Transportation for the Four Lakes Interchange Project on I-90 at Exit 270, which will add a northbound leg to Craig Road. The county would have to match 13.5% of that figure, which comes to about $600,000. The project is part of the county’s six-year Transportation Improvement Plan.
Bonds for airport projects
The BOCC will be voting in conjunction with Spokane City Council and the Spokane International Airport Board on bonds for airport improvements. More information above in Spokane City Council!
$1.5M ballot measure for juvenile detention
The BOCC will vote whether to create a ballot measure for the November election to continue a 29-year-old .1% sales and use tax that would generate $15.8 million for juvenile detention facilities and jails over the next 10 years. The current tax expires on December 31, 2025. This means that both the county and the city could be running sales and use tax measures on the November ballot.
Agenda here
Tuesday, July 16 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.
Spokane Valley City Council
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 peppers
Kroger Opioid Settlement
Over the past two years, Washington State and local jurisdictions have opted in for lawsuit settlements from opioid producers and distributors. These settlements, which were paid by pharmacies and manufacturers like Johnson & Johnson, have so far resulted in the state allocating $86,333.20 to the city of Spokane Valley. Based on the previous three settlements, Spokane Valley is estimated to receive $354,164.66 through the year 2038, which will be used for opioid abatement measures. Last March, Washington State entered into a fourth settlement with Kroger, which — as with previous agreements — the city may choose to participate in. If city council agrees to the settlement’s terms, Spokane Valley will receive an additional $12,000 over a span of 11 years, which must be used to treat and curb opioid use disorder or misuse.
Homeless? Here’s a fine.
After the Supreme Court released its decision in the Grants Pass v Johnson case, which reversed a precedent set by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which previously prevented punishments for homeless people camping when there was not appropriate shelter space available, our region’s cities have started discussing what their enforcement of camping will look like. Spokane Valley has a number of laws already on the books that they plan on enforcing now that it’s not considered cruel and unusual punishment to fine or arrest someone for camping when they have no other place to be, and their legal team will be presenting on them tomorrow.
The laws on the books state: being in a city park after hours comes with a $50 price tag, camping on city-owned or -maintained property is a misdemeanor that can be punished with a fine of up to $1,000 and/or jail up to 90 days. Also, if someone “knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a building” they can be charged with a gross misdemeanor, with penalties of a fine up to $5,000 and/or jail up to 364 days. If someone continues to trespass repeatedly, they can also be arrested.
Spokane Valley has no city-owned homeless shelter and typically directs homeless people to the Trent Shelter in Spokane city, so there are limited resources for homeless people camping in the Valley.
Agenda here
Tuesday, July 23 at 6 pm
City Hall
10210 E Sprague Ave
Spokane Valley, Washington 99206
Virtual attendance here.
Liberty Lake City Council
Kroger, Continued
Just like the city of Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake is also considering the Kroger Opioid Settlement which was approved by the state last Spring. Liberty Lake joined the last three settlements as well, and if the council agrees to the Kroger settlement, the city will be set to receive an estimated $9,200 paid over the next 11 years.
Agenda here
Tuesday, July 16 at 6 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive
Liberty Lake, WA 99019
Spokane Library Board of Trustees
Brown and the Library Board
While the Spokane Library Board of Trustee meeting agendas include few details, we did notice one item of particular importance on the list for Thursday: a scheduled “update and conversation with Mayor Brown.” There was no additional context available in the agenda, but we have a sneaking suspicion this could be an update on how the $50 million budget deficit and how Brown’s plans to start plugging the hole could impact the library. In other cities — like Seattle — budget deficits have spelled shortened library hours and a deprioritization of services. However, Spokane relies heavily on our libraries to fill gaps, for example, serving as warming and cooling shelters during extreme weather events, so we’ll be sending a staffer to this meeting to see whether the Brown update could spell a belt-tightening for the library budget, or something else entirely.
Agenda here
Thursday, July 18 at 4:30 pm
South Hill Library, 3324 S Perry St
Spokane, WA 99203
Attend virtually here
Spokane Airport Board
🫑/5 peppers
Agenda here.
Editor’s note: We clarified the PIES committee section of CIVICS to reflect that interim roles are appointments, not contracts.
Thursday, July 18 at 9 am
Airport Event Center
9211 W. McFarlane Road, Spokane, WA 99224 The meeting is also live streamed here.
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