City Council Meetings Return to Spokane Valley City Hall

Spokane Valley, WA – Beginning Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, Spokane Valley City Council meetings will return to Council Chambers at City Hall, 10210 E. Sprague Avenue. Meetings have been temporarily held at the CenterPlace Regional Event Center since April 2023 due to construction at City Hall. 

New Councilmembers Jessica Yaeger and Al Merkel and returning Councilmember Tim Hattenburg will be sworn in just before this first Council meeting of the new year. 

City Council meetings happen every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Community members are encouraged to share their ideas and thoughts with the Council by attending meetings and speaking for up to three minutes during the public comment portions of the meeting. Citizens can participate in person or during meetings streamed online via Zoom. Meetings can also be watched live stream from the city’s website or broadcast on Comcast Channel 14. Meeting agendas, minutes and previously recorded meetings can be viewed at SpokaneValleyWA.gov/Agendas.

To learn more about City Council meetings and how to watch or participate, visit SpokaneValleyWA.gov/CityCouncil. 

MEDIA CONTACT                                                                    
Jill Smith, Communications Manager
jsmith@SpokaneValleyWA.gov
d: 509-720-5411, c: 509-953-6695

The last meeting of 2023 for the Spokane Valley City Council was Tuesday, December 19th. It marks the end of a 13-year tenure on Council for Arne Woodard and six years for Brandi Peetz. On January 2nd, 2024, Council will resume business with the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor and swearing in of newly elected members.

However, the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting commenced with consideration of Resolution 23-013, adoption of a new Master Fee Schedule, repealing and replacing Resolution 22-023. The City’s Master Fee Schedule was established in December 2022. Implicit in that schedule was automatic inflation adjusted increases to reflect the escalating cost of doing business in these inflationary times. Thus far, departmental increases for 2024 are: Planning-3.12%, Building-3.90%, Parks & Recreation-(Swim lessons, $40 to $48), CenterPlace-various. For a more complete schedule of all fees, please see www.spokanevalleywa.gov. The motion to approve Resolution 23-013 passed unanimously.

The movement of City Council meetings to CenterPlace created administrative problems. Pursuant to state law, the City is required to identify and fix the date, time, and location of its regular meetings. That information has been included in the Council’s Governance Manual. The current situation necessitated that the Governance Manual be amended temporarily to reflect that Council meetings are held at CenterPlace on Tuesdays beginning at 6:00 PM.
Without that change in location being formally made, each meeting must be noticed as a ‘Special Meeting’ to comply with legal noticing regulations. Now, with Council meetings returning to City Hall on January 2nd, Council must formally approve that change.
Other Governance Manual changes relate to:
 Committee assignments. Delineating whose interests the Councilmember is representing when sitting on a committee,board, or commission.
Revisions to the State of Ethics. (See new appendix of the Governance Manual).
Time limits on individual Councilmember reports during City Council meetings.
City Council Media Policy. Providing clear guidelines to prevent Councilmembers from unintentionally violating the Open Public Meetings
Act and/or the Public Records Act.

Staff are preparing the draft Ethics Code which will include a process to address potential violations of the Governance manual where or when appropriate. The motion to approve the Governance Manual as presented passed 4-3. (Wick, Hattenberg, and Peetz, no) 
Each year amendments to the City’s Comprehensive Plan can be proposed for addition to the Comprehensive Plan Docket. Two such amendments were proposed, both by the City, and both were map amendments. The first, owned by Spokane Conservation District, is located at 4418 East 8th Avenue, and would change 44 acres from Multi-Family Residential (MFR) to Mixed Use. An additional piece would change 5.2 acres from MFR to Single-Family residential (SFR). The second plan amendment would change 0.83 acres owned by Family Promise of Spokane at 17103 E. Main Avenue from SFR to Corridor Mixed Use. The motion to approve the 2024 Comprehensive Plan Amendment Docket passed unanimously.

In the finalization of the Barker Road/BNSF rail crossing project and subsequent acquisitions of property, there has arisen the possible necessity for condemnation proceedings to continue acquiring required property. To accomplish this, the existing contract with the City’s consultant, David Evans and Associates, needs to be expanded by $25,000 from $3,171,274.69 to cover the possibility of needing expert testimony on probable court action. Any such requirement would be on-call as needed and paid for on a time and material basis. The motion to finalize and execute a supplemental agreement with the consultant passed unanimously.

Council considered and passed a 3% employee compensation adjustment and amended City Employee Pay Matrix. The motion to approve passed 5-2. (Wick and Padden, no) 

The City has envisioned a new 10-foot asphalt trail (the River Loop Trail) on the north side of the Spokane River mirroring the Centennial Trail on the south side. The proposed trail would be in two phases over 4.7 miles in length beginning at Plante’s ferry on the west and ending at Flora Road at the planned future Flora Park. However, funding and problems with properties that the trail would pass through have caused staff to recommend deferral of the project (both phases) until property rights and other matters can be resolved. Consensus was reached to do so.

A discussion on how to prioritize the spending of money in the Capital
Reserve Fund was the last item on the agenda. Consensus was reached to place funds in these accounts consideration of possible financial needs.
1. $600,000 for contingent City Hall repairs
2. $200,000 for planning for Barker/I-90 Interchange
3. $412,000 Replenish Service Level Stabilization Reserve Fund
4. The remainder, as yet undetermined, will be allocated to the City’s
Public Safety Campus
Consensus was reached to accept the tentative allocations.

This being our last opportunity, here’s wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a most Joyous and Prosperous New Year!
Barring unexpected difficulties, the January Spokane Valley City Council meeting will be in City Hall, 10210 E. Sprague Avenue, commencing at 6:00pm on January 2nd, 2024.

City Hall, however, is otherwise open for regular business during normal business hours.
The Public is invited to Council meetings to participate in action items or public comment periods in person or via ZOOM. Call 509-720-5000 or www.spokanevalley.org prior to 4:00 p.m. for access instructions. Council meetings are broadcast on Comcast channel 14.
 

As previously mentioned in this column, lots of business gets packed into the waning days of the year. This and next week are no exceptions. The business resumed with the second reading of Ordinance 23-024 establishing the Transportation Benefit District Tab Fee.

On October 24th, Council adopted Ordinance 23-018 forming a Transportation Benefit District (TBD). The TBD authorizes the City, under state law, to establish annual vehicle fees, taxes, and other revenue sources. Allowable uses for TBD funds are transportation improvements that construct, preserve, maintain and operate the existing and future transportation infrastructure of the City.

The newly created TBD is a separate legal entity. At its last meeting, Council adopted Ordinance 23-022, under which the City assumes the rights, powers, functions, and obligations of the TBD. A complete copy of the ordinance can be found on the City website: www.spokanevalleywa.gov.

After Council discussion on funding the TBD to perform its intended use of maintaining City roads, consensus was reached to draft an Ordinance (23-024) establishing an annual vehicle license fee of $20 and the allowable uses for the funds collected. The motion to adopt Ordinance 23-024 passed 4-3 (Padden/Wick/Peetz-no).

On November 14, 2023, Council reached consensus to expand the use of its available CLFR (Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds) to include non-profits that provide human trafficking prevention. To that end, RFPs (Requests for Proposal) were solicited, with two responses: Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and the Jonah Project. Consideration of those proposals followed the presentation to Council by each entity using the same scoring system as the City’s Outside Agency Grants Program. The motion to not award any funds because neither applicant garnered sufficient Council votes to receive an award. The CLFR funds will remain for distribution at Council discretion.

On September 20th, 2022, Spokane Valley City Council established the Spokane Valley Tourism Promotion Area (TPA). Pursuant to the TPA, the Spokane Valley Hotel Commission (Commission) was formed. The Commission hired 116 & West as their marketing consultant. However, 116 & West did not have the qualifications to provide sporting events recruitment and marketing services for the City. Recognizing that, the Commission selected Spokane Sports to provide sports recruitment services. Spokane Sports, by request from the Commission, submitted a proposal to work with 116 & West to round out the package to brand the City as a “host city” for future sports events. That relationship continues through 2024 with the cost for 2024 increasing to $400,000 from 2023’s $300,000. The motion to approve the new contract passed unanimously.

On October 26th, the City’s Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) met to receive proposals from applicants and make suggestions for allocations of lodging tax revenues collected for the purpose of promoting conventions and tourist travel to the City. In addition to the usual applications, this year the City of Spokane Valley applied for $4.4 million to help fund a proposed cross-country track. The allocations made were: 

The two categories required two separate motions. Motion #1 was for the approval of the non-City allocations as presented, which passed unanimously. Motion #2 was for the allocation to the Cross-Country track for $4.4 million. This, too, passed unanimously.

In discussing the City’s 2024 Federal Legislative Agenda, the following Capital Projects are:
1. The Sullivan/Trent Interchange
2. South Barker Road Corridor Projects
3. Argonne Bridge at I-90
4. Barker/I-90 Interchange
Accompanying the Capital Projects are the following Policy Statements:
1. Concern over the unhoused and growing epidemic of substance abuse
2. Elimination of obstacles to efficient implementation of federal transportation 
      projects
3. Continuation of federal infrastructure partnerships

The motion to approve the 2024 Federal Legislative Agenda as presented passed unanimously.

In a housekeeping vote, Council unanimously approved a new presentation of its previously approved state legislative agenda. The amended presentation is with a different font allowing the entire arrangement to now be on one page front and back. The motion to approve the new form passed unanimously.
The contract for maintaining our parks is up for renewal. With the increase in the size and number of parks together with inflation driven costs for labor and supplies, Council chose to split the single contract into three pieces. When the request for proposals went out, there were three respondents. One eventually dropped out because of the uncertainty of the future cost increases. The other two, Senske Services, who is our current contractor, and Clearwater Summit Group, a Spokane Valley business, both submitted proposals.

The contract for maintaining our linear parks was awarded to Senske Services. The contract for maintaining our “signature” parks (Balfour, Mirabeau) was awarded to Clearwater Summit Group who is also currently involved in the construction of Balfour Park. The third piece, maintenance of the City’s “designated” parks, was awarded to Senske. The motion to approve those contract awards passed unanimously.

Each year amendments to the City’s Comprehensive Plan can be proposed for addition to the Comprehensive Plan Docket. This year, any such amendment had to be submitted prior to November 14th. Two such amendments were proposed, both by the City, and both were map amendments. The first, owned by Spokane Conservation District, is located at 4418 East 8th Avenue and would change 44 acres from Multi-Family Residential to Mixed Use. An additional piece would change 5.2 acres from MFR to Single-Family residential. The second plan amendment would change 0.83 acres owned by Family Promise of Spokane at 17103 E. Main Avenue from SFR to Corridor Mixed Use. A motion consideration is set for December 19th.

Currently, the City contracts with Spokane County for traffic signal, sign, and pavement marking maintenance. The County has up to now been able to meet the needs of the City. However, due to escalating costs and labor shortages, the County will be unable to meet our needs necessitating action by the City to address the problem. Doing so will require, from our assessment of needs, two signal technicians, additional tools and signal equipment, a bucket truck capable of reaching 35’ height for year-round use, an additional fleet service vehicle, and an external support contractor for after hours emergency response. The overall additional cost is estimated to be $5,100. Council reached consensus to continue negotiating a revised interlocal agreement and planning for absorbing the responsibilities of maintaining our own traffic signals.

City Council meetings are held in the Great Room at CenterPlace until further notice. City Hall, however, is open for business during normal business hours. The Public is invited to Council meetings to participate in action items or public comment periods in person or via ZOOM. Call 509-720-5000 or www.spokanevalley.org prior to 4:00 p.m. for access instructions. Council meetings are broadcast on Comcast channel 14.