Your Connection to the Spokane Valley City Council

Council’s first action item in this Formal Meeting was to set a date for a Public Hearing before the Spokane Valley Planning Commission on a street vacation request. Hanson Industries is the owner of the property adjacent to 250 feet of Desmet Court between Indiana Avenue (west) and Flora Road (east) including the cul-de-sac located there. The total area to be vacated for Desmet Court is about 12,847 square feet. A new cul-de-sac will replace the vacated right-of-way. The Public Hearing date is set for August 27th.

In 2003 the City imposed a 2% lodging tax on hotels and motels. The 2020 City budget estimated that $650,000 would be collected. However, the effects of COVID-19 have decreased that estimation by nearly 50%. In 2015, the City imposed an additional 1.3% lodging tax. That tax was budgeted to collect $420,000. But the effects of Covid-19 have decreased that estimate by nearly 50%.

The 2% tax is used primarily for tourism marketing, and operation of special events and festivals. Those funds may also be used for operations and capital expenditures of tourism-related municipally owned facilities or non-profit organizations.

Proceeds from the 1.3% additional lodging tax are to be used solely for capital expenditures for acquiring, constructing, and improving large sporting venues or venues for tourism-related facilities that support lodging facilities.

The funds from the 2% lodging tax are available to qualified applicants. They qualify by supporting the lodging business by improving attendance at those facilities that generate the lodging tax. Applications for grants are due to the City by 4pm, Friday, October 2nd. Candidates will present their applications to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) on Thursday, October 15th. LTAC will make its recommendations for awards to Council at its November 24th meeting, and Council will approve the final awards on December 8th.

Motion to approve Council’s goals and priorities for the use of lodging tax revenues as presented passed unanimously.

The City is part of an interlocal agreement which establishes a Tourism Promotion Area (TPA) encompassing Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Spokane County together with a Hotel and Motel Commission that advises the Board of County Commissioners of Spokane County on the expenditure of Special Assessment revenues to fund tourism promotion in Spokane County. One of Spokane Valley’s two voting members on the Commission, Jody Sanders’ term has expired. Terms are for three years, starting immediately upon appointment. Mayor Wick’s re-appointment of Ms. Sanders to another three-year term was approved unanimously by Council.

A late addition to Council’s agenda was to address distribution of the $2.9 million in Coronavirus Relief Funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES). Council has identified $1.3 million for grants to small business (at least 18 full time employees, $10,000 in gross revenues), and non-profit businesses. The money will be awarded to applicants on a lottery basis. The City is contracting with the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) who will manage and open the City program for a two-week application period starting August 10. The amount allocated by Council can fund a possible 184 entities. Because there will be many more applicants than available funds, candidate selection will be made from a purely random drawing.

Adding to an already confusing situation, Spokane County will be conducting a simultaneous program that will be distributing $10 million. Eligibility for that program is for businesses throughout the county with 49 or fewer employees and at least $10,000 in gross revenue. Greater Spokane, Inc. will administer the program. Both the County and Spokane Valley distributions will be made by the Innovia Foundation.

The Spokane Valley program will follow the selection and distributions from the County program. It is possible to receive funds from both programs if the applicant meets the requirements. Because the rules and criteria are arcane and complex, interested applicants should call City Hall (509-720-5000) for more detailed instructions.

At its next meeting on August 4th, Council will begin discussions on the 2021 City Budget. The meeting will start at 8:30 AM, and last until 2:30 PM. This will be the first of eight budget discussions including public hearings. The meeting will be in ZOOM format. Public comment will not be permitted.

In these uncertain times, City Hall continues to remain closed except by appointment. To make an appointment, please call City Hall at 509-720-5000, or visit www.spokanevalley.org. In the meantime, observe the mandated safety precautions and protect yourselves from the exceptionally warm summer weather.

This Council meeting came with a very short agenda beginning with an action item to declare the “Horse Arena Property” (Arena) surplus to City needs. The Arena was one of the properties that came to the City with incorporation. It’s a 2.07-acre parcel that once was used for equestrian purposes but lapsed into disuse after the ‘80s.

The City has been unable to identify a productive use for the property because of its being virtually landlocked, without ingress or egress. The most direct course of action is to dispose of it, allowing the new owner to clear the way for a higher and better use. Thus, the Arena, by Resolution 20-011 is declared surplus to the needs of the City and can be disposed of by the City Manager. Motion to approve was unanimous.

At its July 7th meeting, Council reached consensus to proceed with a joint application with the City of Spokane and Spokane County for up to $2.7 million in Department of Commerce grant funds to acquire and operate a young adult shelter for homeless individuals 18-24 years old. The funds will cover the period August 2020 through June 2023 with the proviso that the shelter must be ready for occupancy by December 1st of this year.

Originally the City of Spokane intended to use up to $1.9M of COVID-CDBG funding to create a facility for healthy COVID sheltering, then transition that facility into a young adult shelter later. However, in the intervening time, Spokane’s contract with the Arena to house homeless people is scheduled to expire on August 13th. So, it appears the funds that were intended to be used to prepare facilities on Mission Avenue and Cannon Street for COVID needs, then transitioned into the Regional Bridge Shelter, a warming center, and a day-use facility, are in limbo.

Spokane County has set aside $1.5M for a regional shelter. The shelter is anticipating operating 43 beds from December 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023, which would qualify the partners, Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Spokane County, for a maximum grant of $2.27M at the allowable rate of reimbursement by Commerce.

Due to the compressed timeline associated with the grant (beds occupied by December 1st), the limited zoning allowances in Spokane Valley, and the sparse availability of property, all other options in the County must be considered. Under the time constraints, all three entities will have a nearly impossible task to determine an acceptable site and meet the timelines. Two plans add confusion to an already confusing situation leaving the issue before Council to determine its role in the joint application and the resulting operational and jurisdictional procedures.

The City has had a series of agreements with Splashdown since it incorporated in 2003, the latest on June 5th of 2018. The current lease calls for payments in three installments paid to the City throughout the summer. Additionally, Splashdown maintains premises liability coverage to protect the City’s interest against any claims.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Governor’s closure has had a severe impact on the Splashdown operation to the extent that it will not open for the 2020 season. Splashdown has requested that the City waive the lease payment and insurance requirement for this year. Staff has tentatively agreed subject to Council approval. The matter will be formally addressed at next week’s Council meeting.

On August 4th, Council will meet to begin discussions on the 2021 City Budget. The meeting will start at 8:30 AM, lasting until 2:30 PM. This will be the first of eight budget discussions including public hearings. The meeting will be in ZOOM format. Public comment will not be permitted.

City Hall continues to remain closed except by appointment. To make an appointment, please call City Hall at 509-720-5000, or visit www.spokanevalley.org. Stay well and protect yourselves from the exceptionally warm summer weather.

This Council meeting was conducted in a formal format. That means an opportunity for public comment was provided on the agenda. Formal meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month.

The first item of business was adoption of Resolution 20-10 amending the City’s Governance Manual. Those changes were primarily for clarification purposes, although a second public comment period at formal meetings was added.

Council approved authorizing the City Manager to apply for the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board’s call for projects under its grant funding program. Those applications require a minimum 20% match to qualify to be awarded the grant.

The City has chosen the Argonne Corridor from Indiana to Montgomery ($2 million with $560,000 City match), and Sullivan Road Preservation & Sidewalk ($3 million with a variable City commitment). The COVID crisis has created a highly competitive situation for the reduced supply of grant funds.

In 2018, the City applied for multiple grants to reconstruct the Barker Corridor from the Spokane River to the edge of the Barker Road/BNSF Rail Crossing Project. The reconstruction will be conducted in three parts with the Barker Road Widening segment (Spokane River to Euclid) converting Barker Road into a three-lane road with accompanying required improvements.

In addition, Consolidated Irrigation District No. 19 will install a water main within the roadway, partnering with the City, to include the water main construction as part of the City’s project. The County will also be installing a sewer line within the project. Memorandums of understanding will be executed with both for the joint costs.

The Engineer’s Estimate was for the project was $3,189,745; the City’s portion was estimated at $371,000. Seven bids were received. The lowest responsive bidder was DW Excavating with a bid of $2,655,770. The Motion to approve the bid award for passed unanimously.

The U.S. Congress, in late March, approved the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, more commonly known as the CARES Act. Included is a provision for $150 billion to individual states to address their COVID-19 related expenses. Of that amount, Washington State received $2.95 billion. Spokane Valley’s allocation from the act is $2,901,600.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Treasury have mandated that Conavirus Relief Funds (CRF) can only be used to cover necessary expenditures incurred due to COVID-19 that were not already in the City’s most recently approved budget before March 27, 2020. The direction also specifies that the CRF funding may NOT be used to fill shortfalls in government revenues.

Commerce provided examples of eligible expenditures in six primary categories from which the City might apply for reimbursement: 1. Medical expenses. 2. Public health expenses. 3. Payroll expenses. 4. Expenses of actions to facilitate compliance with COVID-19 related public health measures. 5. Expenses associated with the provision of economic support. 6. Other COVID-19 related expenses

Commerce also provided an Eligible Cost Test based on the following five statements. To qualify as an eligible cost under the CARES Act: 1. The expense is connected to the COVID-19 emergency. 2. The expense is “necessary.” 3. The expense is not filling a shortfall in government revenues. 4. The expense is not funded through another budget line item, allotment, or allocation as of March 27, 2020. 5. The expense would not exist without the advent of COVID-19 or would be for a “substantially different” purpose.

Deducting the City’s already spent and anticipated expenses of $220,117 from its total allotted amount, there remains a balance of $2,681,500 for use in support of community efforts in dealing with the pandemic and its effects. Individual councilmembers indicated their recommendations for allocations of the funds based on the process adopted for distribution of the City’s lodging tax funds.

The specific areas of application for allocation are: Mortgage assistance, Rent assistance, Utility assistance, Food security/insecurity, Small business grants*, Non-profit organizations, and School grants.

*Small Business Grants were suggested to not exceed $7,158 with employees of 18 or under.

City Hall remains closed except by appointment. For more detailed information on program specifics and the application process or to make an appointment, please call City Hall at 509-720-5000, or visit www.spokanevalley.org. Stay well and enjoy the very pleasant summer weather.

As previously reported from Council’s June 23rd meeting, this meeting would be focused on discussing federal money directed to Spokane Valley through the CARES program dealing with the financial impacts of the Coronavirus.

In attempting to mitigate the dramatic and devastating economic and social damage those measures have wreaked on the country, Congress, in late March, approved the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, more commonly known as the CARES Act. Included in the many relief features of CARES is a provision for $150 billion to individual states to address their COVID-19 related expenses. Of that amount, Washington State received $2.95 billion. Spokane Valley’s allocation as it makes its way through the system is $2,901,600.

In order to access the funds, the City must enter into a contract with the Washington State Depart of Commerce (Commerce). The grant will be on a reimbursement basis. The proceeds of this grant may only be used for expenses incurred in addressing COVID-19 programs and problems. The grant funds are only available for reimbursing the money the City has already spent, not for direct application to problems the City is encountering.

This translates into the City having to front money to solve problems not of its making at a time when it, too, is financially weakened. Simply put, this means the City must first expend money for ‘approved’ expenditures, then seek reimbursement after the fact. And, the money must be spent before October 31st of this year.

Eligible costs as defined by Commerce and the U.S. Treasury states that Conavirus Relief Funds (CRF) can only be used to cover costs that are necessary expenditures incurred due to CODID-19 and were not already in the City’s most recently approved budget before March 27, 2020. The direction also specifies that the CRF funding may NOT be used to fill shortfalls in government revenues.

Commerce provided examples of eligible expenditures in six primary categories from which the City would apply for reimbursement:
1. Medical expenses,
2. Public health expenses,
3. Payroll expenses,
4. Expenses of actions to facilitate compliance with COVID-19 related public health measures,
5. Expenses associated with the provision of economic support, and
6. Other COVID-19 related expenses.

Commerce also provided an Eligible Cost Test which tests the veracity of each of the following five statements in order to qualify as an eligible cost under the CARES Act:
1. The expense is connected to the COVID-19 emergency.
2. The expense is “necessary.”
3. The expense is not filling a shortfall in government revenues.
4. The expense is not funded through another budget line item, allotment or allocation as of March 27, 2020.
5. The expense would not exist without the advent of COVID-19 or would be for a “substantially different” purpose.

To date, of the six primary categories listed above, the City currently has incurred COVID-19 related expenses under 2) public health expenses and 4) expenses of actions to facilitate compliance with COVID-19 related public health measures. Current cost as of June 26, 2020:
Public Health Expenses: Expended, $6,117; Anticipated, $156,000; Total: $162,117
Public Health Compliance: Expended, $33,000; Anticipated, $25,000; Total: $220,117.

Deducting the City’s already spent and anticipated expenses of $220,117 from its total allotted, there remains a balance of $2,681,500 for use in support of community efforts in dealing with the pandemic and its effects. Those areas include food security, rental/mortgage assistance, utility assistance, selective assistance for schools, and small business grants for economic development.

Individual councilmembers will each indicate their recommendations for allocations of the precise qualified application of funds using the process adopted for distribution of the City’s lodging tax funds. The aggregate allocations will be averaged and distributed accordingly. The motion to authorize the City Manager to finalize and execute the grant contract with Commerce passed unanimously.

City Hall remains closed except by appointment. To make an appointment, please call 509-720-5000 or access the website: www.spokanevalley.org. Be patient, stay well, and enjoy the very pleasant summer weather.

View Past Spokane Valley City Council Highlights