This regular Formal Council Meeting’s first order of business was adoption of Resolution 19-003, regarding use of the property surrounding City Hall. Inquiries have been made from time to time by outside groups seeking permission to use the area outside City Hall for various purposes, mostly commercial.  Those requests have been denied. Although the property is public property, there are no provisions or accommodations for maintenance for public events.

While it is not the intent of Council to infringe on Constitutionally protected free speech, it is Council’s intent to clarify that while demonstrations are permissible, campaign related events are not. The City’s primary interest will continue to be to ensure that demonstrations do not impede access into and out of the building, and do not interfere with the ongoing operations of City Hall. The resolution was approved.

A second resolution, Resolution 19-004 addresses the areas on City property where alcohol consumption is permitted after acquiring a special-events permit. The salient sections of Resolution 19-004 state:

Section 1. Designation of Areas Where Alcohol May be Consumed. The City of Spokane Valley adopts three places in City parks or facilities at which alcohol may be consumed.  The three areas are as follows:

A. CenterPlace at Mirabeau Point Park;
    1. All areas within the CenterPlace building
    2. West and East patio areas
    3. A portion of the CenterPlace grounds adjacent to the south
    end of the parking lot
    4. All the area known as the North Meadow; and
    5. All the area known as the West Lawn

B. Mirabeau Springs at Mirabeau Point Park: All the area known as Mirabeau Springs.  

C. Undeveloped Balfour Park: All that area of the undeveloped portion of Balfour Park, specifically excluding that portion owned by the Spokane County Library District at the west end of the property, and specifically excluding the developed portion of Balfour Park that includes turf and improvements.

Section 2. Consumption of Alcohol Prohibited. Consumption of alcoholic beverages in all other City-owned parks, or areas of City-owned parks, not specifically designated by this Resolution is prohibited.

SPECIAL NOTICE: Alcohol consumption on City property may only occur pursuant to a special-events permit issued under Chapter 15-5 of Spokane Valley Municipal Code, Special Events.

Recently, Council approved the City’s joining the Eastern Washington Area Agency on Aging. The interlocal agreement with that agency allocated one representative to its Planning and Management Council. Ms. Jean Kindem is currently on that board, and the Mayor formalized her position there by appointing her to a three-year term beginning on this date and ending December 31, 2021.

Part of its 2019 Public Safety budget is the City’s contract for District Court services. An overview and update is presented annually to Council by the Presiding Judge. The District Court is comprised of eight judges, each elected to a four- year term.  The current Presiding Judge is Jeffrey Smith. Other judges on the District Court are Patrick Johnson, Donna Wilson, Patti Connolly Walker, Jennifer Fassbender, Debra Hayes, Aimee Maurer and Richard Leland.

District Court has jurisdiction over both criminal and civil matters within limitations. Criminal matters include misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors such as domestic violence offenses, DUI driving, thefts, and 4th degree assaults. Civil matters include name change petitions, claims up to $100,000 for personal injury, contracts, or property damage. Jury trials in that court have six-member juries.

Traffic and non-traffic infractions are also heard in District Court as well as Civil Protection Orders for domestic violence, sexual assault, anti-harassment or stalking. The Court also handles small claims for up to $5,000. All these services are conducted in the Spokane Valley Precinct Courtroom as the need arises.

The City’s Chief Financial Officer presented 2019 budget amendments covering adjustments such as increases in negotiated salary increases for Staff employees and recommended adjustments for Council members, election costs for ballot postage, an allocation to return the Winter Weather Reserve Fund back to its normal $500,000 level, and the transfer of $7,109,300, to a capital account which is the amount in excess of 50% of the budgeted recurring expenditures.

A recent suggestion that a joint meeting with Liberty Lake’s City Council did not receive enough support to move forward. Consensus was that the semi-annual Council of Governments was a more fitting setting for joint discussions such as the suggested joint meeting.

Save a place on your calendar for Spokane Valley’s State of the City Address. The event will occur on March 22nd at CenterPlace. Sponsored by the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, the occasion will be a luncheon meeting commencing at 11:30am.

In lieu of the regularly scheduled Council meeting, Council held a winter workshop. That being an all-day event, the normal Tuesday evening Council meeting was canceled.

The workshop is designed to discuss progress on items which staff has been working on as well as new issues that Council will be addressing. It also provided a preview of the 2020 budget.

In City departments, the general title of Public Safety encompasses the categories of Law Enforcement, Detention Services, District Court, Public Defender, Prosecutor, Pretrial, Emergency Management, and Animal Control. The City contracts individually with Spokane County for each of those services. At nearly $26 million, those services account for just over 60% of all General Fund expenditures. Law Enforcement Services at $20.445 million is the largest cost in that category.

The contract with the Sheriff’s Department for Law Enforcement calls for 89 dedicated commissioned positions; 38 other positions are shared with the Sheriff’s office. As of early February, there were 9 officer vacancies in the City. In addition to those 9 vacancies, 19 positions are filled with deputies in various stages of training that are not adequately trained to work autonomously. Three more deputies are currently on military deployment and four more are recovering from injuries.

Recruitment is an ongoing problem, not only locally, but across the nation. It takes close to a year to fully train a newly hired deputy to be able to function without supervision. The creation of a “power shift” to maximize manpower on the most demanding shift times has proven successful for prioritizing and employing manpower resources most effectively.

Citizens often ask why it’s necessary for the City to maintain a 50% operating fund reserve balance. Just what does that mean? The City receives property tax revenues from the County twice yearly. It receives sales tax revenue collected monthly by the State, but with a one-month delay. To cover cash flow shortfalls, the City draws on its reserves.

The City also relies on grant funds for capital projects, road preservation, and other large capital outlays that qualify for grant funding. At times, as much as 80% of the City’s capital projects are funded by grants. That presents a problem: the project payments are reimbursed, which means that the up-front money must be paid by the City which then applies for reimbursement. Often, those reimbursements take time.

Taken together, the cash flow problems created by the timing of revenue flowing in and out and having to advance the money for grant assisted projects necessitates a reserve fund. It has been the City’s experience that a reserve of 50% of recurring expenditures works well. Anything short of that amount would require the City having to borrow operating funds, which Council has chosen not to do.

In 2017, Council selected Waste Management as its residential and commercial solid waste hauler. A ten-year contract commencing on April 1, 2018 provided for residential curbside collection of garbage, recycling, and compostables (yard waste). The City identified specified recyclables to be included in the contract which Waste Management is required to collect. Those include cardboard, paper, glass, and certain plastics. Other materials such as plastic film, grocery bags, and Ziplock bags are not allowed.

On August 7, 2018, Waste Management requested four amendments to the solid waste collection contract calling for a rate increase to recover increased costs of recycling, a service charge on excessive recycling contamination, changes to the acceptable recycling list, and changes to the contract language on recycling. Recycling market changes implemented by the Chinese Government was cited as the reason for the request for contract amendments. Negotiations continue.

Mark March 22 on your calendar. It’s the Spokane Valley State of the City address by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, sponsored by the Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce. It will be a luncheon meeting at CenterPlace. More information to follow.

At its January 29th meeting, Council heard an administrative review of the City’s efforts to create a Planned Action Ordinance (PAO). The concept is based on its continuing endeavors to streamline the permitting process for business development. To that end, City Staff has been working on completing a tool for use by developers to enhance the permitting process for industrial development in the Northeast Industrial Area of Spokane Valley.

Projects that meet the PAO criteria have the option to use the environmental analysis and mitigations identified in their development plan. Using a PAO is entirely voluntary but provides predictability and time savings because the additional environmental requirements imposed by local, state and federal agencies will have been addressed. Should the developer choose to not use the PAO program, he or she will proceed through the existing permitting program.

The City has been working with a Technical Advisory Committee since 2017 to develop a supplemental environmental impact statement that will support and enable adoption of the PAO. The PAO meets the State Environmental Protection Agency requirements as well as the supplemental plan.

On December 13, 2018 the Planning Commission reviewed the PAO program, conducted a public hearing, then voted 6-0 to recommend City Council adopt the program. Council voted to advance the Ordinance (19-002) to a second reading.

Mayor Higgins made two, two-year appoints to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee: Lee Cameron, representing an entity which collects the tax, and Wayne Brokaw, representing an entity involved in activities funded by the tax.

The City has received numerous inquiries from outside groups seeking permission to use the City Hall grounds for various purposes, mostly commercial. In the interest of clarifying the issue, Council, by consensus approved consideration of a resolution setting forth the rules for any use of City Hall grounds. That resolution will be considered for action in a late February meeting. A similar resolution addressing where alcohol consumption is permitted on City property will also be up for consideration then.

Several road preservation projects scheduled for 2019 were described in preparation for when the contracts are awarded. Those projects are:

University Road, 16th to Dishman-Mica. Plans call for a 3-inch asphalt overlay, installation of curb ramps and signal upgrades. Estimated cost: $3,226,000.

Mission Avenue, University to Union. The contract will be for resurfacing with 2 inches of hot mix asphalt, pedestrian ramps, and stormwater improvements together with sidewalks. Estimated cost: $2,144,272.

Evergreen Crossing, Mission to Indiana. The project will lay 1.5 inches of hot mix asphalt, update selected pedestrian ramps, and restripe Evergreen to add bike lanes between the Mission Connector and Indiana. Total estimated project cost: $802,050.

Knox Sidewalk, Sargent to Hutchinson. This project will widen the pavement and install sidewalk, curbs and gutters on the south side of Knox Avenue between Sargent Road and Hutchinson Road. Initial project costs are estimated at: $441,245.

Wilbur Avenue Sidewalk, Boone to Broadway. In addition to improving stormwater management, this project will install new sidewalk, curb and gutter, and widen the pavement on the east side of Wilbur between roadway and Boone. Estimated cost: $399,471.

Argonne Road Preservation, Valleyway to Broadway. The engineering for this project is still underway. It is intended to include grind and overlay together with stormwater improvements. Budgeted costs are: $325,000.

Please note that the February 12th Council meeting is cancelled. Council will be attending the Association of Washington Cities Convention in Olympia.

The regular February 19th Council meeting will also be cancelled. Instead Council will hold its winter workshop, open to the public, beginning at 8:30am in Council Chambers.