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:
- At the Spokane City Council meeting, the council is set to approve using General Fund dollars to plug a hole in the Criminal Justice Assistance Fund (CJA), which is used to pay jail bills, and considering a resolution to approve multi-million dollar homelessness services contracts.
- The city’s Finance and Administration Committee will discuss federal advocacy priorities, a financial audit, Safe Streets funding and an update on Spokane Regional Emergency Communications.
- The Spokane Plan Commission is getting a presentation on racially disparate housing impacts in the city.
- The Spokane Regional Health District will discuss their measles response, and the absence of their Administrative Officer Alicia Thompson, who is being replaced by two interim co-administrative officers, effective immediately.
- Spokane Valley City Council will discuss new restrictions on what flags can be flown at their city hall, which would effectively ban the Pride flag.
- The Board of County Commissioners will likely vote on new caseload standards for public defenders.
Important meetings this week:
- Spokane City Council (and Study Session)
- Finance and Administration Committee
- Spokane Housing Authority Board
- Spokane Plan Commission
- Board of County Commissioners – Briefing Session and Legislative Session
- Spokane Regional Health District Board
- Mead School District Board of Directors
- Central Valley School District Board of Directors
- Spokane School District Board of Directors
- Spokane Valley City Council
Spokane City
Spokane City Council
/5 peppers
Fighting Sean Feucht
Nestled in the consent agenda is a $50,000 contract amendment to continue the Pacifica Law Group’s contract defending the city against rightwing worship pastor Sean Feucht, bringing the total contract to $250,000. Late last week, a judge tossed Feucht’s lawsuit, which alleged the city violated his freedom of speech and caused emotional distress when the council voted to censure then-mayor Nadine Woodward for appearing on stage with Feucht and alleged domestic terrorist Matt Shea. With a new budget deficit looming and an over-spend on lawsuits contributing to higher-than-expected expenses, maybe the judge’s verdict will save the city this chunk of change…
Criminal justice fund out of money
As reporting from Spokane Public Radio revealed in August the city’s Criminal Justice Assistance Fund (CJA) — which pays Spokane’s bill for beds in the county jail — is out of money, which has led to two month’s worth of unpaid jail bills.
Tonight, council plans to pass a special budget ordinance to address the deficit…