Cheney Workshop Will Help Set Priorities For Services

Residents of Cheney will get a chance to decide what levels of city service they want in the future during a workshop next Wednesday.

The session will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Cheney High School cafeteria.

“We want people to tell us what they want. It’s their city,” said Glenn Scholten, Cheney city planner.

The workshop is part of the public participation process for complying with the state’s Growth Management Act.

All cities in Spokane County must determine priorities for municipal services such as police, fire, parks, utilities, housing and streets.

Those priorities will figure into the calculations about how much growth a city can absorb and could be used to determine fees imposed on developments.

A Seattle consultant is working with Cheney, Medical Lake and Airway Heights to help each city comply with the Growth Management Act.

Residents who attend the workshop will be given play money, or “Cheney bucks,” with which to “buy” the levels of service they prefer.

City officials will add up the play money to see how people at the workshop view services provided by the city. That information will go into the list of city priorities.

“If they want increased services, it will cost money,” said Scholten.

, DataTimes