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:
- We’re still two weeks out from this vote, but the Spokane City Council is taking public comment on their plan to adopt a 0.1% public safety sales tax, as approved by the state, to “establish a Community Safety Campus” and more.
- At Wednesday’s meeting, the Spokane City Council could vote to pass more emergency fire relief, and contracts to extend and expand sheltering and navigation center services through Jewels Helping Hands.
- The Spokane Valley City Council will field a presentation by the city’s planning staff on a number of housing requirements mandated by revisions to state laws governing how local communities develop.
- The Mead School Board will be considering a revision to its Transition to Kindergarten policy that would allow them to charge tuition or enrollment fees for its pre-K program.
Spokane City Council Agenda Review
Every Tuesday, the council meets to finalize the Wednesday agenda, which now includes items that won’t be up for a vote for the next two weeks, giving you more of a chance to comment on things before they’re up for a vote.
Up for a vote next week:
- An emergency ordinance to create a Temporary Disaster Housing Program for residents displaced by emergencies like wildfires or other natural disasters.
- A contract amendment to spend an additional $100,000 on legal services to fight a lawsuit from the estate of Joshua Musselman, who was shot and killed by the police in 2024. If passed, this would bring the total spent fighting the suit to $250,000.
- A resolution allowing the administration to enter into an up to $1 million contract with Catholic Charities and Jewels Helping Hands to operate shelter beds during inclement weather conditions. This will be paid for with 1590 funds. Details on the shelter beds can be found here.
Up for a vote in two weeks:
- A resolution to approve allocating unspent ARPA dollars to backfilling police and fire overtime costs
- A resolution to support the Department of Natural Resources land exchange of the Thorpe property
- An ordinance to penalize “nuisance properties”
- A slate of ordinances to approve rate increases for waste- and storm-water services
- An ordinance to establish equitable budgeting practices
- An ordinance to implement an additional 0.1% sales tax through the state Public Safety Funding program. Money collected would go to “establish a Community Safety Campus, further integrate behavior health into public safety systems and improve emergency preparedness.” This is a separate sales tax from the one the Spokane County Commission is considering for county law enforcement costs.
Agenda here…