County Commissioner District 3
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Study finds room for urban growth
Spokane County’s urban growth areas have enough land to serve the metropolitan area for the next 20 years, according to a study that will be discussed tonight. Planning officials will conduct an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. as part of a lengthy process to make sure the growth areas are adequate.
Spokane County Commission, Position 3
Spokane County Commissioner Bonnie Mager and her re-election challenger, former Spokane City Councilman Al French, seem to have mixed up their political party playbooks.
Mager fires back at French
County Commissioner Bonnie Mager said Friday that her election challenger, Al French, was hypocritical when he accused her of wanting to make tax increases easier. “I think somebody who actually authored a new tax is a little out of line to try to throw mud at me for just wanting the county to have what he already enjoyed in the city,” Mager said.
County commission objects to shoreline rules
A state rewrite of Spokane County’s shoreline regulations is a “prime example” of state agencies “out of control,” Commissioner Mark Richard said Tuesday. With Washington’s budget on life support, the Department of Ecology should focus on “core issues” instead of meddling in “local business,” Richard said.
Mager, French debate raceway, waste
The “only candidate who has created jobs” will face the “only fiscal conservative” in a prerecorded county commission debate tonight at 7 on KSPS-TV. Spokane County Commissioner Bonnie Mager will cite her opposition to the purchase of the Spokane County Raceway as evidence of her ability to pinch a penny.
Medical Lake site chosen for jail in 2-1 vote
Spokane County commissioners accepted no public testimony but aired their own views on a new jail for an hour and a half Tuesday. They then voted 2-1 to confirm a site near the Medical Lake interchange of Interstate 90 and to declare an emergency so land-use changes can be made in time for an April bond measure.
Corrections center choice likely tonight
Spokane County commissioners are scheduled to confirm this evening their tentative selection of a site for a replacement of the Geiger Corrections Center. Commissioners previously voted 2-1, with Bonnie Mager dissenting, to choose a location near the Medical Lake interchange on Interstate 90.
Spokane County approves land, sewer deal
County commissioners unanimously approved an agreement Tuesday to trade 70 acres of undeveloped Spokane County Raceway land for Airway Heights sewer and water connections.
GOP platform proves vexing in Spokane County
Much of the county Republican Party’s platform reflects longtime GOP values: Limited government. Gun rights. Lower taxes. An end to abortion. But some of the platform’s 120 policy statements make more-surprising calls, for, among other things: An end to no-fault divorce. A return to the gold standard. Tax incentives for the shoe and textile industry. U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.
Clark: Let’s commission a monument to runaway spending
How about that Spokane County Raceway, huh? Ho, hum. Another day. Another $850,000 blown out the ol’ exhaust pipe.
County settles raceway suits, resolving contractors’ claims
The Spokane County Raceway will cost taxpayers $850,000 more under a lawsuit settlement county commissioners approved Tuesday. Commissioners Mark Richard and Bonnie Mager, who don’t agree on much about the raceway, both said the settlement makes the best of a bad situation.
French hangs on for general election
A final vote count in last month’s primary election, to be certified today, didn’t turn around any races or trigger an automatic recount. Republican county commissioner candidate Al French retained a narrow lead Tuesday over Republican Jeff Holy and will advance to the Nov. 2 general election. French will face incumbent Democrat Bonnie Mager.
911 upgrade would allow texts, photos
Emergency communications are about to join the Information Age in Spokane County – and get more expensive. Residents will pay 75 cents a month next year for 911 service, a 25-cent increase in a rate that hasn’t changed in two decades.
Spokane County 911 tax to go up in January
Emergency communications are about to join the Information Age in Spokane County – and get more expensive.
Primary election creates odd bedfellows
When he announced his candidacy for Spokane County prosecutor, Dave Stevens called the incumbent, Steve Tucker, an “absent administrator.” But after coming in fourth in a six-way primary, Stevens said this week he will endorse Tucker for prosecutor in the November election.
Mager runner-up vote count continues
The race for second place in last week’s primary for Spokane County Commissioner Bonnie Mager’s position remained too close to call Monday. Jeff Holy shaved five votes off Al French’s lead for runner-up when 4,544 more ballots were counted. They were separated by 153 votes, 4,887 to 4,734, but more ballots are to be counted today and Wednesday.
Election roundup: Murray, Rossi tie on the gloves
Sen. Patty Murray will face Dino Rossi in the November general election, continuing the fight for a U.S. Senate seat that started even before the Republican former legislator got into the race in May. With hundreds of thousands of ballots still to count, Murray was pulling down the most votes Tuesday night in the state’s top-two primary, and Rossi was a somewhat distant second, but far ahead of tea party favorite Clint Didier, a former NFL player turned Eltopia farmer. Bellingham businessman Paul Akers ran a distant fourth.
County won’t oppose casino plan in Airway Heights
A second tribal casino in Airway Heights would pay out for Spokane County under a deal county commissioners approved Tuesday on a split vote. With Commissioner Todd Mielke dissenting, the commission agreed not to oppose the Spokane Tribe’s bid to open a casino on 145 acres of tribal land to be annexed by Airway Heights.