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 is having first readings of three big policies: no warrantless ICE arrests at ticketed street festivals, establishing a Community Workforce Agreement and beginning to stand up a replacement 911 dispatch center.
- The Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee will discuss the new selection process for funding traffic safety projects and an extension to the interim zoning ordinance that allows tall building construction in downtown Spokane.
- There’s no agenda up yet, but we anticipate the Office of Police Ombuds meeting will be a packed one, as advocates have been preparing testimony and complaints about law enforcement violence during the June protests.
- Spokane Transit Authority is having a mysterious special meeting to discuss a contract renewal, details not provided.
- Spokane Regional Health District Board could approve an agreement with Spokane Valley to get more SpoVal-specific opioid overdose data.
- Spokane County is talking about putting a measure on ballots for August 2026 that would create a protection district for groundwater under the West Plains, which is polluted with PFAs. They also might cut one of their public records clerks, leaving that office with only one full time employee.
Important meetings this week:
- Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
- Public Infrastructure, Environment, and Sustainability Committee
- Bicycle Advisory Board
- Spokane Ombuds Commission
- Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Legislative Session
- Spokane Transit Authority Board of Directors
- Spokane Airport Board
- Spokane Regional Health District Board
- Spokane Valley City Council
- Liberty Lake City Council
Spokane City
Spokane City Council
/5 peppers
Tonight’s meeting is packed with first reads on a few big policies, which means they won’t have their final vote until next week at the earliest, but you can share your opinions on them tonight. It’s also the first meeting for Council Member Shelby Lambdin, who was appointed to fill the seat left vacant by former Council Member Lili Navarrete.
Community Workforce Agreements
The first policy is a Community Workforce Agreement ordinance, which would ensure that taxpayer dollars for city projects benefit local laborers. We covered it in depth here. There is a proposed amendment from Council Member Michael Cathcart that would state the city needs to consider the potential for labor disruptions from unionized employees like strikes or lockouts before deciding to implement a Community Workforce Agreement. The Cathcart amendment, which would require a suspension of the rules to even consider, would also state that any revenue collected from penalties imposed against contractors not following the rules would go to expanding workforce development programs, while the original version written by Council Member Paul Dillon says revenue must be dedicated to grants for state-recognized pre-apprenticeship programs to support priority hire workers.
A new name for Spokane’s emergency communications
Spokane city has been in a messy break-up with Spokane Regional Emergency Communications — which dispatches 911 calls — for a while, and is now in the process of standing up their own communications network. But first, it needs a name. Amendments to the ordinance to begin standing up our own network show three potential names on the table:
- the Emergency Communications Center, the original idea submitted by the mayor’s office
- the Spokane United 911 Network, submitted by Council President Betsy Wilkerson
- the Spokane Preparedness and Response Center (SPARC), submitted by Council Member Michael Cathcart
We obviously don’t get a vote, but if anyone cares, we’re partial to SPARC — it’s got the catchiest acronym.
ICE out of the streets
The ordinance to ban ICE from conducting warrantless arrests at ticketed street festivals in the public right-of-way is back! This time, it’s not an emergency ordinance, which means it only needs a simple majority to pass. Wilkerson, Cathcart and Council Member Jonathan Bingle voted against it in June, so Lambdin could be the deciding vote — although Wilkerson signalled she was open to potentially passing it as a regular ordinance with more time for public input. Still, it’s too late to protect Tacos y Tequila, which was indefinitely postponed due to community concerns…