Sunset on solar panel fee waivers

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: 

• Our virtual Documenters orientation is happening this week! Get paid to attend public meetings!
• Spokane City Council will decide if fee waivers for solar panel installations should be eliminated.
• Parks After Dark Ordinance update at the Public Safety & Community Health Committee.
• More Planning Commission drama at the Spokane Valley City Council…

Important meetings this week:

• Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
• Public Safety & Community Health Committee
• Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Legislative Session
• Spokane Valley City Council 
• Liberty Lake City Council
• Community, Housing, and Human Services Board
• Spokane School District Board of Directors
• Spokane Park Board
• Spokane Regional Transportation Council

Documenters orientation this week!

From power struggles on local boards like the Spokane Transit Authority board to squabbles over social media policy in Spokane Valley, our region’s public meetings have been starting the new year off with a bang. Our Documenters program seeks to put meetings like these on the public record for all to access. At RANGE, we love the Inland Northwest and want to make it better. That means sharing vital information from these meetings with more of our community and holding decision-makers accountable. 

If you’re as much of a fan of local meetings, community accessibility to information and civic engagement as we are, we have a virtual training this week where you’ll be able to get trained to become a Spokane Documenter. By becoming a Documenter, you’ll be the eyes and ears in the public rooms where decisions are made. And you’ll get paid to attend the meetings that interest you and take notes that get published online.

This training will introduce you to the Spokane Documenters program, starting with a walkthrough of Documenters.org and our assignment workflow. You’ll practice skills relevant to assignments, learn about public meetings law and meet fellow Documenters. Upon completion of this workshop, you’ll be eligible to apply for paid assignments with the Spokane Documenters program. Just make a Documenters account and register here!

Wednesday, February 7, 6 – 7:30 pm
Register to attend virtually here.

For the bikers out there…

The city of Spokane is hard at work on their Bicycle Priority Network (BPN), a map that helps the city determine how to prioritize upcoming bicycle infrastructure projects. The BPN will also guide the city in setting future goals and policies which will be found in the Comprehensive Plan. Right now, they’re asking bicyclists to share data on their favorite routes and locations that need improvements by commenting on this interactive map.

Spokane City Council

Resolution to the rules conflict?

We’ve done continued coverage on the ongoing conflict and conversations about the Spokane City Council’s annual rules update, including a guide on how to testify under the new rules and an in-depth discussion of the context on our relaunched pod with the Inlander’s Nate Sanford. This week, we wondered “just how much time has the city council spent on this?” We decided to do the math. Read that piece here, and pay attention this evening to see if there have been any updates on how the council chooses to handle ongoing protests about the new rules, specifically the ban on standing in the chambers. There’s nothing in the agenda, but we heard from city council members that there have been a few conversations with community groups involved in the protest last Monday, like Spokane Community Against Racism, with the goal of coming to some kind of resolution.

Funding for youth behavioral services

The consent agenda has a few key recommendations from the team allocating remaining American Rescue Act funds, including recommendations to award $1 million to The Native Project to complete construction of a youth behavioral health facility, and $500,000 to the Northeast Community Center to renovate the former Northeast Library Branch into a youth behavioral health facility.

City settlements

There are two big settlement agreements on the agenda for tonight’s meeting. The first is a pretty cut-and-dry settlement to the tune of a cool $275,000 to Karen Fischer, who was injured after stepping into a tree grate on Wall Street in downtown Spokane in September 2020, allegedly the fault of shoddy city maintenance. 

The second settlement in the agenda is $125,000 to James (Larry) and Lois Collins, a couple hit by Spokane Police Officer (SPD) Michael Brunner. The Collins’ were driving near MultiCare Deaconess Hospital when Brunner hit them going 60 mph, twice the speed limit in that area. According to reporting by Emma Epperly at The Spokesman, both of the Collins’ suffered injuries, and Brunner proceeded to ticket James Collins, the driver, for failing to yield at a stop sign. 

After the incident and investigation, Brunner was charged with felony vehicular assault, but pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless driving. Following a yearlong suspended jail term and unmonitored prohibition, Brunner is now working for the SPD again as an officer. 

Spokane’s solar (energy) system

In early December, the council was set to contemplate walking back a policy that gave fee waivers on some permitting fees for the installation of solar energy systems and electric vehicle charging stations. After a deferral, it’s back on the agenda and set for a vote tonight. The original language states the reason for removing the fee waiver is that recently, requests for solar permits have greatly increased, which “places a burden on the [Business & Development Commercial Services] and Fire Dept. to perform this work while not being adequately compensated.”

Alongside the original ordinance, Council Member Jonathan Bingle, who proposed the first draft with fellow Council Member Michael Cathcart, has submitted an amendment. The amendment would set the waivers to expire at the end of June, but leave the language on the books in case the council ever wanted to reinstate the waivers. It would also add “the Sustainability Action Plan goal for the City to adopt processes and procedures to promote and streamline sourcing of renewable energy.”

Levy, bond, levy

Resolutions in support of special election ballot measures — the Spokane School District’s (SSD) levy and bond, the Spokane Libraries’ levy and the redistricting process measure — had been deferred from the January 22 council meeting. They’re back on the agenda for tonight. There is a proposed Cathcart amendment to the resolution in support of SSD’s ballot measures, which would separate out support for the levy and support for the bond into two separate resolutions requiring two separate votes. It is worth noting resolutions in support of ballot measures have no real legislative power, but show the city’s support for a thing. 

Another likely beer garden deferral

We’re getting a little bit of deja vu here, but it’s likely The Family Friendly Ordinance, which could allow local nonprofits to relax beer garden regulations, allowing families to bring those under 21 in with them, will be deferred again. Last week, it was delayed to small tweaks to the language to bring it into alignment with the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, but there were “no substantive changes,” according to Council Member Zack Zappone. 

This week, the deferral is likely to give council time to discuss and incorporate a recent amendment filed by Bingle, which is short and sweet, reading, “Each individual providing alcohol service on behalf of the permittee must have received in-person responsible liquor sales training from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board.” 

Agenda here
Monday, February 5 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, February 8 at 11 am
City Council Chambers – Lower Level of City Hall 
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Public Safety & Community Health Committee

Parks after dark and other police updates

City council will be getting an update on the controversial Parks After Dark ordinance, which passed in late June and made being in the Spokane parks after hours an arrestable offense, from Interim Police Chief Justin Lundgren, who replaced the former chief Craig Meidl after his resignation late last year. Council will also be getting a quarterly report on asset forfeitures taken by SPD, a monthly report on enforcements of the sit and lie ordinance — only two tickets were listed in the agenda — and a report on the Photo Red program, which are the violations of red lights logged by traffic cameras. 

According to the report details in the agenda, the Photo Red system logged 1659 violations for December 1st, 2023 through December 31st, 2023, an increase of 316 violations from 2022. The intersection with the highest number of violations was Second and Thor, with 301 violations.

Emergency Communications Discussion

There’s not much detail in the agenda, but for his first meeting as chair of the Public Safety & Community Health Committee, Council Member Paul Dillon will be leading a 20-minute discussion on the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications (SREC) network. Spokane city joined SREC in 2022. Though city council and the firefighters’ union fought hard against the city joining the regional network, former mayor Nadine Woodward pushed for it, as a cost-saving measure and to hopefully cut down response times.   

Agenda here 
Monday, February 5 at 1:15 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.

Board of Spokane County Commissioners Briefing Session

Agenda here 
Tuesday, February 6 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

Staffing the boards

The BOCC will vote on five appointments to various public boards. It is considering:

• Sydney Krebsbach, energy specialist with Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners, for Spokane County Community Services Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board
• Patti Stauffer, the director of Washington State University’s program of Health Sciences Public Policy and Advocacy, for the Spokane County Library Board of Trustees
• Allison Galsunow, a health sciences patent consultant, for the Spokane County Health Sciences and Services Authority Board
• Tim Hattenburg, a Spokane ValleyCity Council Member, to the Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee
• Ben Wick, also a Spokane Valley City Council Member, to the Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee

Agenda here 
Tuesday, February 6 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 Valley City Council

Continued drama for commission appointments

Last week, we wrote about Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley’s failure to interview or even contact any of the candidates who applied for open positions on the Planning Commission. Looks like that drama could continue into this week, as Haley gets to appoint another person to the Planning Commission following a resignation by Val Dimitrov. Haley considered the applications submitted for the previous vacancies and chose Matthew Hurd, a housing developer. The appointment is for a term of almost two years. 

Also on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is an ordinance to amend the Planning Commission’s meeting requirements, changing the requirements slightly from at least once a month to “at least one regular meeting each month, not less than nine months in each year.” This is just a first reading and is not slated for a vote this week. 

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

Liberty Lake City Council

Agenda here
Tuesday, February 6 at 7 pm
22710 E Country Vista Drive, Liberty Lake, WA 99019
The meeting is also live streamed here. 

Community, Housing, and Human Services Board

Agenda here when available
Wednesday, February 7 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 School District Board of Directors

Special Meeting

The Spokane School District Board of Directors is holding a special meeting prior to the regular meeting. It will begin at 4:30 pm. The agenda includes an update on the legislative session and the district’s priorities for it, as well as a discussion on programming at the Hillyard Campus High School. 

Agenda here 
Special Meeting: Wednesday, February 7 at 4:30 pm
Regular Meeting: Wednesday, February 7 at 6 pm
Spokane Public Schools Administration Building
200 N. Bernard, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.

Park Board

Agenda here when available
Thursday, February 8 at 3:30 pm
Council Chambers in the Lower Level of City Hall.
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed via WebEx, 
Call in: 408-418-9388 Access code: 2491 764 3350

Spokane Regional Transportation Council

Agenda here 
Thursday, February 8 at 1 pm
Spokane Regional Transportation Office
21 W Riverside Ave, Suite 504, Spokane, WA 99201
The meeting is also live streamed here.