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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Incorporation Supporters Quickly Mobilizing Forces Organizers Meeting To Motivate Troops And Kick Off Another Campaign

Adam Lynn Staff Writer

A group trying to form a city in the Spokane Valley will get a jump on its third campaign in five years with a meeting today.

The public forum will begin at 7 p.m. at the Spokane Valley Foundation bingo hall, N1212 Pines.

The meeting will be devoted to organization and motivation, said Joe McKinnon, co-chairman of Citizens for Valley Incorporation.

“This will be the dog and pony show stuff,” McKinnon said. “We’ll be presenting our campaign plan and timeline. We’ll be giving out campaign signs and bumper strips.”

The group still has several hundred of its green-andblue “Create Our Own City of the Spokane Valley” signs left over from last year’s unsuccessful campaign. Some of them will be available at the meeting, McKinnon said.

“We’re going to start pounding campaign signs on Thursday,” he said.

McKinnon hopes the formal campaign and massive fund-raising can begin March 23 when the state Boundary Review Board clears the way for an election on May 16, the date targeted by incorporation supporters.

That date looks good but isn’t official yet.

The review board, which regulates the incorporation process, will hold a public hearing on the incorporation proposal Feb. 13.

The board has one month from the conclusion of the public hearing to issue a nonbinding recommendation on incorporation to county commissioners.

There is then a 10-day period for people to appeal the recommendation.

If all goes well, the board will complete its tasks by March 23, and the May 16 election will be a go.

But if the public hearing is extended past Feb. 13, or there is a lengthy appeal of the review board’s decision, the election date could be pushed into the fall.

But McKinnon said his group doesn’t want to waste any time since May 16 looks reasonable.

“The time frame isn’t that big,” McKinnon said. “This campaign could have a short fuse on it. We’re going to be pro-active not reactive.”

A final campaign strategy has not been developed, he said, but his group has been working with political consultants to come up with a “professional effort” to sway voters.

Citizens for Valley Incorporation plans to raise between $55,000 and $75,000 and spend the money on surveys, polls and advertising campaigns, he said.

The group has about $2,400 in its campaign war chest now, according to public disclosure records filed at the county elections office.

Polling will be an integral part of this campaign, McKinnon said.

“We’re going to know day by day what’s going on,” he said. “We’re going to know exactly what the issues are. We’re so close.”

The effort failed last April, gaining 44 percent approval at the polls. Just 34 percent supported the city during a 1990 election.

Supporters want to form the city because they think they’ll have more representation and get better service than they do from county government.