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 sign a 50-year lease with the American Indian Community Center to give the AICC a section of High Bridge Park at the rate of $1 a year for 50 years.
- Spokane City Council is also set to hold a first reading on a policy that would move council meetings from their traditional Monday night slot to Wednesday evenings.
- Spokane’s Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability (PIES) Committee will discuss giving $100,000 to the Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition to use on direct, emergency aid to immigrant communities in Spokane.
- PIES is also discussing changes to Safe Streets funding and getting an update on the effectiveness of removing parking minimums from building construction requirements.
- At a joint meeting between local governments on Thursday, officials at Spokane Airports will publicly discuss their cleanup of the forever chemicals contamination on the West Plains.
- The Spokane Valley City Council is set to vote on a resolution that would ban local vendors from selling kratom, a stimulant that some medical experts say can be addictive and harmful.
Important meetings this week:
- Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
- Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
- Spokane Plan Commission
- Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Legislative Session
- Spokane Regional Transportation Council
- Spokane Airport Board (committee meeting)
- Mead School District Board of Directors
- Central Valley School District Board of Directors
- Spokane Valley City Council
Spokane City Council
/5 peppers
SCRAPS board
Boards and committee appointments are usually pretty low drama, but we did notice something interesting slated for this week: Spokane is appointing people to the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection (SCRAPS) Advisory Board.
For the last two years, following a wave of euthanizations and a lawsuit, local government officials from municipalities that contract with SCRAPS — like Spokane city and Spokane Valley — have looked for accountability from the organization. Last year, Council Member Michael Cathcart told us the advisory board was “worthless”; it rarely met, posted no information and wasn’t able to exercise any authority over SCRAPS…